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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23617138">Of Monsters and Masquerades</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhydeble/pseuds/Rhydeble'>Rhydeble</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Of Wasps and Wizards [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Parahumans Series - Wildbow, The Dresden Files - Jim Butcher</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Fusion, Gen</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-04-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-04-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-02 16:55:15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>86,160</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23617138</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rhydeble/pseuds/Rhydeble</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A few months after becoming a wizards' apprentice, cape Taylor Hebert returns from fighting the Endbringer Behemoth. Returning home, she finds a powered serial killer was on the loose in Chicago during the fight, and she teams up with heroes and villains to take down the truce-breaker.</p><p>A few months later, just before Halloween, something is stirring up the spirits of Chicago, and assaulting parahumans in their sleep. As the investigation escalates, something is set to happen that will change the world as everyone else knows it.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Harry Dresden/Susan Rodriguez</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Of Wasps and Wizards [2]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1699945</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>24</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Endbringer Behemoth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>India was weird, I decided. Or rather, India's bugs were weird.<br/>
<br/>
Truthfully, they weren't. In fact, had I been born here, I'd probably think that American bugs were weird. Hell, it had taken me quite a while before I'd really gotten used to the small differences between Chicago and Brockton Bay.<br/>
<br/>
I was here because of an Endbringer attack. Just like how Leviathan had attacked my own home, Behemoth had hit New Delhi just four months later.<br/>
<br/>
New Delhi hadn't disappeared beneath the waves, that wasn't how Behemoth worked. Instead, the one-eyed obsidian giant had struck at the city with earthquakes, fireballs, radiation, and concrete-smashing sound-waves.<br/>
<br/>
New Delhi had roughly the same kind of bugs. Crawlies, fliers, ants and spiders, the big differences were in what kind of species they were.<br/>
<br/>
Which would have been a bigger deal if I actually had to use their abilities, instead of my own.<br/>
<br/>
I focused my attention on the little focus I'd created with Harry's help. Mostly a practice tool, it consisted of a richly carved ball of hardwood, shaped to roughly resemble an eye, and small enough to carry in my utility compartment.<br/>
<br/>
"<em>Deprehensio radiatus</em>" I mumbled. The Latin was quite obviously incorrect, but apparently that didn't matter. After all, Harry managed to make Fliccum Biccus work. Instead, what mattered was that my mind was protected from the flow of magical energies, which somehow worked by speaking in shitty Latin, and would keep working until I started using shitty Latin in daily life.<br/>
<br/>
I idly wondered if there were any old wizards that chose, say, English, as a language, back when French was the lingua franca. It would've sucked when everyone suddenly started speaking the language you're using to force the world to conform to your will.<br/>
<br/>
Through the spell, I gained more awareness of the surrounding, giving me the ability to see sources of nuclear radiation, left behind by Behemoth's attacks. Then, I went into my mind, and looked for the connection that bound me to my bugs, purposefully channeling the energy of the spell through it.<br/>
<br/>
It was still difficult to 'see' through my bugs. They didn't really have eyes the same way people have, and their other senses were different as well. Their new, magical senses however, were exactly the same as they were with me.<br/>
<br/>
I moved my swarm around, making them form into markers wherever I located a source of radiation. Big hazard signs, made up out of ants and fireflies mostly.<br/>
<br/>
In all honesty, I wasn't very good at helping out in this situation, I was just doing it because I had nothing else to do, given what had happened, the big shots needed some time to talk things over, and we probably wouldn't be heading back until much later.<br/>
<br/>
I hadn't been very good at fighting Behemoth either. Somehow, I was even more mismatched against the herokiller himself. Thus, I'd had to stay on the back-line, helping coordinate the evacuation where I could. It had felt weird, seeing things suddenly turn around like that without being involved. Maybe that was how it felt for most people, after all, a single foot soldier generally wasn't the one turning the tide of the war. My activities back in Brockton Bay were the ones that were outside the norm, not my lack of effectiveness here.<br/>
<br/>
Through one cluster of bugs, I saw the local radiation levels suddenly recede, and I spotted the cape responsible. I couldn't be quite sure before actually seeing him, but I was quite sure he was wearing an actual Zorro costume, flowing cape, sword, an old pistol, and a bandana with eye holes. He even wore a silly hat to complete the theme.<br/>
<br/>
Interested and bored, I made my way through the ruined buildings, using my bugs to map out a good path.<br/>
<br/>
Eventually, that led to me having a good view of the cape, as he was busy removing the radiation left behind in Behemoth's retreat.<br/>
<br/>
Given what I was seeing, I was also quite sure he wasn't actually a cape, since he was using magic to do what he was doing. Although that depended on your point of view. In many ways, he was more of a cape than someone with parahuman abilities using them to, say, make pancakes.<br/>
<br/>
He looked to be about my age, maybe a bit older, although the costume made it hard to guess. His outfit, rather than being completely black, like the classical Zorro costume, had a brown cape, colored in a way that reminded me a lot of the apprentice's robe Harry had provided me with, an itchy thing that, luckily, was for official Council events only. It made sense that he'd be wearing it. It was innocuous enough that those not in the know wouldn't look for anything behind it, and recognizable enough that anyone who knew about the White Council would be able to recognize him as an apprentice.<br/>
<br/>
He had tanned skin and dark eyes, and from what I could see, his hair was just as dark. His features, what I could see of them at least, were Spanish, something which had probably been the reason behind his choice for the Zorro costume. He looked rather fit. Much like Brian, he had the body of someone that actually used his muscles, instead of the ridiculous stuff you sometimes saw on Brutes and Bodybuilders.<br/>
<br/>
He turned, and I got a good look at his face. He seemed to be slightly in shock, something which could be explained by the fact that he was an apprentice, and probably just went through his first endbringer battle. Then, he started smiling and gave me a wave.<br/>
<br/>
I gave him a short wave back, and made my way to him.<br/>
<br/>
As I came closer he held out his hand in greeting. I obliged, holding it, when he stopped acting like a normal person. One hand behind his back, the other holding mine, he bowed forward, and kissed my fingers in a move that had been out of date a hundred years ago.<br/>
<br/>
"Greetings, and a pleasure to make your acquaintance, young lady. My name is Ramir-" He stopped in the middle of telling me his name, he evidently did not have a lot of experience with secret identities. After a short second however, he recovered.</p><p>"I am Zorroceror: Hero, magician, gentleman."<br/>
<br/>
"I think you forgot drama major," I replied wryly.<br/>
<br/>
"Ahhh, you wound me!" he replied, most definitely overplaying it when his hand clutched at his heart.<br/>
<br/>
"So, you're the one cleaning up this stuff?" I asked him.<br/>
<br/>
"Yeah, some simple water magic, it's not all that hard when you have all the time that you need. What about those bugs here? I've never seen anything like it," he replied. I wondered what he meant. Probably not the fact that I controlled them, or he would've simply assumed it was my power. Had he detected my little spell, and gotten confused, thinking I was using magic to control the insects?<br/>
<br/>
"The bugs? That's my power, I'm just casting through them," I explained.<br/>
<br/>
"Ahhh, I see!" he said, suddenly a bit more giddy. "Like Myrddin!"<br/>
<br/>
"A bit like him yeah, I've only been learning magic for a few months though, and I don't really have the raw power he has," I replied.<br/>
<br/>
Harry claimed that he was a special case, a powerhouse that had access to raw power that put him somewhere in the top five of White Council wizards. I wasn't quite sure whether or not to believe him, because the two other wizard's I'd met so far, Ebenezar McCoy and Injun Joe, hadn't really been representative of the Council as a whole either. Anyway, compared to those three, I was basically a toddler with a sharp knife.<br/>
<br/>
Luckily, I had access to an army of miniature flying toddlers, each perfectly capable of carrying that knife. In addition to that, even my mental metaphors were feeling the effects of being around Harry too much. The man had a way of turning everything he came into contact with into absolute nonsense.<br/>
<br/>
"You mean you actually know the guy?" Zorroceror asked.<br/>
<br/>
"Know him? He's the idiot I have to learn from," I answered.<br/>
<br/>
I wished I hadn't. At the mention of me actually knowing Myrddin, he got even more fan-boyish. Which wasn't something I'd expected from someone who knew magic himself. He kept asking me questions like <em>what's he like, can he really fly, has he ever banished you?</em> that sort of thing.<br/>
<br/>
"Skitter, by the way," I said, actually introducing myself.<br/>
<br/>
"Zorroceror, as I already said. I'm not sure about the name, but the ladies love the costume that goes with it," he replied. I wasn't sure if I believed him or not. The costume and mannerism were kind of cute, sure, but cute and attractive were two very different things.<br/>
<br/>
"First fight?" I asked.<br/>
<br/>
"First time I've been able to convince my master that I would survive, and there were a few close calls. You?"<br/>
<br/>
"Second, first was back home, Brockton Bay."<br/>
<br/>
Hearing that, Zorroceror winced. "My sympathies then," he said.<br/>
<br/>
"It was… different. I could actually do something against Leviathan. With Behemoth, I couldn't even bring my bugs close," I replied.<br/>
<br/>
"I mostly stood in the back, shielding the blasters and trying not to get distracted by the fireworks," he said. "It was interesting, seeing all the people you only hear about in stories in action. The Triumvirate, the Senior Council, the Summer Lady, and I believe I even saw the Erlking. Not to mention what that girl did."<br/>
<br/>
We walked through the half-torched streets, my bugs pointing him towards the largest pockets of radiation, and him removing it somehow. I wondered if, in the end, it would be enough. After all, there had been a lot of it thrown around at the end, and while most people had been shielded from its effects, the city itself had not been.<br/>
<br/>
"Speaking of what happened, what did happen?" I asked him.<br/>
<br/>
"I'm not sure. Everyone was failing to do much of anything. Capes, Wizards, supernatural creatures. They slowed him down, but that was it, they weren't actually hurting Behemoth. Stuff changed when this little glowing drone thing started talking to this cute girl with a crossbow, and I only know that because I was nearby at the time. Somehow, she was actually hurting it, the arrows going straight through. Once that information got out, a lot of big names showed up and started supporting her directly, all up until, you know, that," he said, pointing at a half-destroyed office building, marked by the fact that Behemoth's decapitated head was lying on top of it. I'd seen that much, and I'd seen the mad dash to safety Behemoth had gone for once that had happened, throwing around fire, lightning, and more obscure forms of attack that a theoretical physicist would have a field day with.<br/>
<br/>
It hadn't been the first time an Endbringer had been driven off. It had, however, been the first time one of them had been damaged to such a degree, without everything turning to chaos while it was happening. Whoever had used telepathy to quickly organize everyone when Dragon's armbands had been destroyed was to thank for that.<br/>
<br/>
"So, where are you from?" I asked.<br/>
<br/>
"Small village on the west coast, my teacher isn't one for the big city," he replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Anything exciting happening there?"<br/>
<br/>
"Not really. We had a black court vamp coming through town last year, but that's it really. Nothing like Chicago."<br/>
<br/>
"That's just lucky me. Out of the frying pan, and into Chicago. Did you know we actually had four different kinds of werewolf in town a few months ago?"<br/>
<br/>
"I think I read something about that, something with a time-slowing naked wolf-lady?"<br/>
<br/>
"Something like that. Turns out most magical shape-shifters don't take their clothes."<br/>
<br/>
Our conversation was interrupted by what felt like a tiny metal sphere bumping into some of my bugs, followed by Tattletale's arrival. Her LED's had been destroyed, but the levitation mechanism still worked, and she was apparently still able to deliver it enough power to fly around like an idiot.<br/>
<br/>
"Heya Skit," she said.<br/>
<br/>
"Hi Tattletale, they finally let you go?" I asked her.<br/>
<br/>
"Ehh, mostly. The Triumvirate did some sort of shady back-room dealing, and now they get to keep the severed head. They'll probably ask for my help, but there's enough biotinkers around that also want a go. Anyway, who's this?" she replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, this is-"<br/>
<br/>
"Wait wait no, lemme guess, its more fun that way!" Tattletale interrupted me.<br/>
<br/>
"Let's see, suave guy, cape, sombrero-like thing, actual eye-mask, gun and sword, in addition to what seems to be a staff, I'm thinking Wizzorro?"<br/>
<br/>
"Shit, that's actually better, given the dirty joke potential. But no, it's Zorroceror. I believe you were Tattletale?" he replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Yep, that's me. Tattletale, sexiest sort of ghost this side of the Atlantic. Only we're on the other side of the Atlantic right now. Does that still work? I mean, I haven't actually met all that many other ghosts, but I'm quite sure I'm the sexiest ghost period. Except maybe the ghost of Helen of Troy is hanging around somewhere, and I don't think I can measure up to her until someone launches a couple thousand battleships for me. On a completely unrelated note, Skitter, do you think you can get your hands on a battleship?" Lisa replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Sexy ghost, you say?" Zorroceror asked.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey, I may not look like much, but I'm wearing skintight spectral spandex under this thing!" Lisa replied.<br/>
<br/>
"You know, I'm a lot more motivated to work at this whole wizard sight thing now," Zorroceror replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Anyway, the first group of people is going back to Chicago in an hour or two. Revel wanted to know if you were going back or staying here to help out a bit more."<br/>
<br/>
"What's everyone else doing?" I asked her.<br/>
<br/>
"Revel, Myrddin, Hati and Panacea are sticking around for a bit, as are a few of the villains. The Scarlet Lady, Topsy, one of the guys from the Folk."<br/>
<br/>
"Hati's staying? Didn't even know she came along" I said.<br/>
<br/>
"She's giving the healers more time. Never joined the fight proper. Something about being pregnant I think."<br/>
<br/>
"Already? The wedding was just a month ago."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, Panacea's pretty good at diagnosing that sort of stuff, and I assume she's making sure there aren't any complications."<br/>
<br/>
"Do you happen to know what Tim the Enchanter is doing?" Zorroceror asked.<br/>
<br/>
"Tim the Enchanter? really?"<br/>
<br/>
"Not everyone is as amazing at coming up with cape names as I am, and he loved that movie," he replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Right, well, you'd have to ask someone else. All the wizardy types keep giving me the shifty eyes, probably because they believe I'll break down if I sneeze too hard."<br/>
<br/>
"Why don't you?"<br/>
<br/>
"Tinkertech, it's shielded from your hexings, rather ingeniously if I say so. Plus, it's not like I use most of the stuff in here. Only problem is Behemoth fried my wifi. Plus, no connection here anyway."<br/>
<br/>
"So you're going to bother Cuff about bothering Tecton again?" I asked.<br/>
<br/>
"Well, Panacea's not going to fix me, so yes!"<br/>
<br/>
"There's gotta be a better way to do that..."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, sure, yeah, but it's not like those are as funny as annoying Cuff about it."<br/>
<br/>
"Just… try to make him keep the enchantments intact this time? I just know old Yoda is going to give me that task otherwise."<br/>
<br/>
"You need the practice. I mean, come on, with a little more training you could be as cool as Zorroceror over here!"<br/>
<br/>
"Well, not as cool as me, but I'm sure you could get close," he replied.<br/>
<br/>
***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/>
<br/>
Unlike the trip to India, the trip back to Chicago wasn't done with a swanky teleporting cape. Instead, we were put on a big transport plane thing, courtesy of Dragon. She even told everyone it was shielded from powers that interfered with modern aviation technology, which made me very suspicious about how much she knew about magic.<br/>
<br/>
There were quite a few people on board our flight. Chicago is a major travel hub, and most of them would spread out further on flights leaving from there.<br/>
<br/>
That meant that this was one of the most dangerous planes in the history of humanity, with some of the stronger capes of the North-American continent on board.<br/>
<br/>
I sat down in one of the seats, attached to the side of the transport, and Lisa promptly plonked down on my lap. She was tired, for lack of a better word. It was more like meditation than sleeping. She'd seen a lot of new and interesting things today, and her power had gone into overdrive, so she had to rest for a bit.<br/>
<br/>
Before I could use my bugs to grab the attention of Cuff and a now one-armed Grace, someone sat down next to me. I looked at her, and saw that it was Miss Militia.<br/>
<br/>
"Skitter, it's been a while," she said, her power having formed into a combat knife at her waist.<br/>
<br/>
"About four months," I replied, trying to ignore her.<br/>
<br/>
The last time I'd seen her, she'd been firing tinkertech bombs at Leviathan with some sort of special launcher. The time before that, she'd held a knife to Regent's throat, after which he promptly outmaneuvered her.<br/>
<br/>
In other words, we weren't exactly on the best of terms.<br/>
<br/>
"I heard you've been going at it alone, as a vigilante," she said.<br/>
<br/>
"That's correct."<br/>
<br/>
"Revel called me, a few days after you first appeared in Chicago. She wanted to know what you were like."<br/>
<br/>
"What did you tell her?" I asked. Had Miss Militia been the one responsible for me not getting arrested the moment Harry recognized me?<br/>
<br/>
I'd thought about sending her an email once, back when I'd first figured out that the Undersiders were working for Coil. I hadn't done so because of a fight with my dad, but perhaps I should have.<br/>
<br/>
Then again, that would have meant selling out the rest of the Undersiders. Although, had they been in jail, they probably wouldn't have died in the attack.<br/>
<br/>
"I told her you obviously had some heavy problems you needed to work through, but that I didn't think you were actually evil."<br/>
<br/>
"Heavy problems?" I asked.<br/>
<br/>
"On your first outing, you made Lung's crotch rot off. The second time around, you gouged out his eyeballs."<br/>
<br/>
"That was perfectly reasonable," I replied. "If I hadn't taken them, he would've simply gotten up like nothing had happened afterwards."<br/>
<br/>
Miss Militia looked at me, an inquisitive look in her eyes.<br/>
<br/>
"I'm not saying it wasn't the right move, I'm saying that perfectly stable people don't generally go around gouging people's eyeballs out."<br/>
<br/>
"And perfectly stable people don't start manhunts for newly triggered teenagers either."<br/>
<br/>
She sighed. "You're talking about Hellhound."<br/>
<br/>
"Her name was Bitch," I replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Look, I don't like what happened there either, but I wasn't involved in it. The Protectorate, like almost anything, isn't perfect, but that doesn't mean that there's nothing good there. Fighting corruption and bad decisions is just part of the job."<br/>
<br/>
"And every time you go on patrol, you grant legitimacy to all the assholes flying the same flag."<br/>
<br/>
"So you hang out with them, without actually joining."<br/>
<br/>
"So I hang out with the people I want to hang out with, instead of following the commands of an asshole like Armsmaster because the government wants me to."<br/>
<br/>
"Well, I guess we have very different ideas about the role of legal authorities."<br/>
<br/>
"I guess we do," I replied.<br/>
<br/>
We sat there in silence for a bit longer, the transport ship lifting up on softly humming anti-gravity generators, then accelerating, moving at what seemed to be a rather high speed, judging by the rate at which bugs were moving in and out of my range.<br/>
<br/>
I looked around the transport, trying to figure out who was who. I recognized Chevalier, who had just returned from what seemed to be the cockpit. I wondered if Dragon was in there, or simply steering from her home in Canada. It was generally known that she almost never left her laboratory, instead choosing to work from her home, using remote-control vehicles.<br/>
<br/>
I also recognized Weld, a rather famous monster cape. He was made purely out of metal, which made him a veritable tank. I wondered for a bit whether he was truly a case 53, the official name the PRT gave the monster capes, or some sort of metal spirit pretending to be a teenage boy.<br/>
<br/>
Also made out of metal, but the polar opposite of media-darling Weld, was Hookwolf. Apparently, the crazy motherfucker had survived, even without the rest of the Empire Eighty-Eight to back him up, and he'd come to fight Behemoth. Interesting was that he seemed to be carrying some new gear, like a pair of belts slung around his shoulders like a gunslinger, which included some rather diverse weapons. A silver dagger, a vial of what I presumed was holy water, a crucifix and what I presumed were actual heads of garlic.<br/>
<br/>
Thinking back to what Rune had told me, Hookwolf had been the one taking care of the Empire's supernatural opponents. Given his general character, he'd probably been overzealous, which explained why I hadn't ever seen any vampires or anything like that in the Bay. It made even more sense when you thought about the background of their organization. The Empire consisted of Neo-Nazis. The actual Nazis, back during the second world war, had famously been borderline obsessed with the supernatural, hoping to find some sort of Wunderwaffen, miracle weapon, by checking out old stories and myths. Legend had it that Hitler was in the possession of the very spear that had stabbed Jesus on the cross, and Aleph cinema was absolutely filled with vampire Nazis and other such things.<br/>
<br/>
Did that mean that, horrible a person as he was, Hookwolf had used his specific skills and knowledge to protect Brockton Bay from supernatural predators? His Changer form, sturdy and made out of what seemed to be steel, was most definitely useful for that purpose. Hell, if it was close enough to iron to count, he alone could have been enough to keep the fair folk out of Brockton Bay. Given the fact that Kaiser's predecessor had actually called himself Allfather, I couldn't help but wonder about how much that man had known. Sure, Nazis were known to be into Norse mythology, but what if Allfather had actually been into Norse mythology?<br/>
<br/>
Eventually, I figured out that I wasn't going to recognize anyone else. Half the people in the plane were like Zorroceror, this probably being one of their first outings as a cape, the others I dimly thought I'd maybe dimly recognized from a news reel somewhere, but not famous enough for me to know their names or powers.<br/>
<br/>
Speaking of the devil, I saw Zorroceror sitting next to an older English-looking man, who had to be Tim the Enchanter, enthusiastically telling stories about the fights, and pointing to me.<br/>
<br/>
"Someone you know?" Militia asked, looking up from the magazine she had been reading. I wished I had been smart enough to pack something for just this kind of situation.<br/>
<br/>
"Met him after the fight, he's nice enough," I replied. "Bit of a Casanova though."<br/>
<br/>
"Oh?" she asked, questioning.<br/>
<br/>
"Not like that. He was more interested in Tattletale anyway."<br/>
<br/>
"So, what happened there?" she asked, motioning towards Tattletale.<br/>
<br/>
"She died, then she came back as a ghost somehow, pretty similar to Glaistig Uaine's power. Myrddin did something to give her a body again."<br/>
<br/>
"And now she lives out her life in a tiny metal shell? I never liked her, but I wouldn't wish that on anyone."<br/>
<br/>
"Not necessarily? I mean, she can go out whenever she wants to, that just makes it harder to affect the world, what with her not having a body and everything."<br/>
<br/>
"Is there any reason she needs to have this body? I heard Dragon has been looking into lifelike android bodies," she said.<br/>
<br/>
"It's an option, I guess, although I'd just ask Panacea instead. And I'm pretty sure she's enjoying the ability to fly, as well as the lack of headaches."<br/>
<br/>
As I said that, I felt something shift again, the transport plane suddenly slowing down. According to the screen hanging above the door to the cockpit, we were almost arriving back in Chicago.<br/>
<br/>
***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/>
<br/>
As I left the transport, I saw Cuff waving to me, standing next to Shuffle and Dovetail, who had been waiting for us to land.<br/>
<br/>
I made my way towards them, hoping to catch up with Ava. I'd lost track of her early on in the fighting, and Militia's little conversation had stopped me from talking to her in the transport.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey," I said.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey," she replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Skitter, can you gather all the locals here with your bugs?" Shuffle said.<br/>
<br/>
"Just the white hats, or?" I asked him, placing Lisa's metal body in my utility compartment while scouting out everyone with my bugs.<br/>
<br/>
"As long as we're still under the truce, gather everyone. I don't like it, but we need all the help we can get."<br/>
<br/>
He was obviously stressed out, something had happened in the night that we'd been gone, fighting Behemoth. I grabbed the attention of everyone I recognized as being from Chicago by flying a bunch of flies into their face, then drawing a line of arrows towards our current position.<br/>
<br/>
"Also, something wrong with Tattletale?" he asked.<br/>
<br/>
"She's tired, her power was overclocking during the fight and afterwards.<br/>
<br/>
"That's too bad, we could've used her with the current situation."<br/>
<br/>
"Which is?"<br/>
<br/>
"I'll explain in a minute, I don't want to have to repeat stuff."<br/>
<br/>
Quite soon, we were joined by Grace, Snaptrap, Glory Girl and Chubster, as well as Topsy, Crimson Blade, The Temptress and Genoscythe. Revel, Myrddin, Panacea, Hati and Tecton were staying in New Delhi, while Wanton and Annex were probably still at their headquarters.<br/>
<br/>
"What's the matter?" Genoscythe asked.<br/>
<br/>
"What's the matter is that someone took advantage of half the people leaving town to fight Behemoth, and a possible incoming kill-order," Shuffle said.<br/>
<br/>
"What happened?" I asked.<br/>
<br/>
"Someone killed about a dozen innocent people, in a manner that was obviously not normal. The really problematic part was that whoever did it was being ritualistic about it. Candles, diagrams drawn in blood, the whole shebang. Given when it happened, and that it doesn't look like they'll be stopping anytime soon, Director Heathrow declared a temporary state of emergency." Shuffle said.<br/>
<br/>
"For you," he continued, looking at the assembled villains. "That means that we won't have the time to deal with you, and will have to ignore you as long as you don't do anything overly illegal. Of course, if you have any information regarding the perpetrator, we would be happy to reward you for your co-operation."<br/>
<br/>
"A truce then, I'll inform my friends in the Folk," Topsy said.<br/>
<br/>
The rest of them murmured similar things, after which they dispersed, probably to tell the rest of their friends about the current situation.<br/>
<br/>
"As for the rest of you, be careful. Creeps like this don't suddenly become less lethal in an actual fight. Furthermore, according to Heathrow's analysis, he, or they, or even she, will probably escalate. That means the next target could very well be one of us. So keep everyone informed, and try not to go anywhere on your own until we know more. This guy isn't playing by the rules, and our most experienced people are still out of town. Don't do anything stupid, don't go out on your own, try not to get killed," he said, his words somewhere between advice and orders.<br/>
<br/>
"Sounds like a bit of an overreaction. I mean, it's not like this is the Slaughterhouse or something like that," Glory Girl said quietly. "Seems like a bit of a stretch to say whoever's responsible is going after us."<br/>
<br/>
"In all honesty, I agree with you," Shuffle said. "But director Heathrow insists on taking every possible precaution. He was being evasive when I asked him what his sources were, but he insisted on whoever did this being dangerous."<br/>
<br/>
"Besides that, anything that stands out? What are we watching out for?" I asked.<br/>
<br/>
"Given the theatrics of it all? The simplest way to classify our perp is as Myrddin's wannabe evil twin. Circles drawn in blood, pentagrams, what seemed to be an honest-to-god robe, that sort of thing," Shuffle replied.<br/>
<br/>
That, everything considered, was rather disconcerting. The last few months, Harry had mostly focused my apprenticeship around the movement of energies, the basics of using magic. I could infuse circles with my will to hold off both matter and energy, I could, with some effort, gather more metaphysical information with my senses, and I could light candles with my mind, and all of that through my bugs. I could even perform a tracking spell of sorts, triangulating someone's position by establishing a magical connection. He hadn't had the time to tell me about the larger dangers of the supernatural world, except a short introduction to the bigger players. Vampires, faeries, that sort of stuff. What he had gone into even less was black magic. Maybe he was uncomfortable with the topic, maybe he didn't know all that much about it, or maybe he just wanted to shield me from what it was. I hadn't thought much of it, since I'd been busy getting my head around getting my head around spells, meditation, and other such things.<br/>
<br/>
I knew black magic was based around the darker emotions, that it could include stuff like tearing someone's heart out at a distance, and that it had a sort of stench to it. I'd also gathered that, in the context of ritual murder, it was believed to be possible to increase one's own power by taking that of another. I wasn't sure if that was true, although Harry would probably know, but it would explain the ritual murder.<br/>
<br/>
Furthermore, if what Shuffle had said was true, and whoever was responsible was coming after parahumans next, I could guess what he was going for. I had no idea if it would work, but I suspected that whoever our enemy was thought that by, for lack of a better word, <em>eating</em> a parahuman, he could take their powers for himself.<br/>
<br/>
Given that that was exactly how Glaistig Uaine seemed to work, it wasn't even all that unlikely.<br/>
<br/>
"You know… I'm actually kind of happy that Amy is still in India," Glory Girl said, talking to me instead of the entire group.<br/>
<br/>
"Afraid she'll get hurt?" I replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Sort of, maybe. She used to have stalkers, people going after her to get healed, there was even a maniac that thought he could claim her powers by circling her three times while shouting his name. Judas will protect her, even though her clothes will probably get soaked with drool. Thing is, I just keep worrying anyways, she just keeps getting into trouble. I mean, she'd be going to the bank and BAM, she's caught up in a robbery and hitting supervillains in the face with a fire extinguisher."<br/>
<br/>
"Ha ha," I replied dryly.<br/>
<br/>
"So, about this not going out on your own thing," Glory Girl asked, looking at me with a mischievous look in her eyes.<br/>
<br/>
"What about it?" I asked, although I'd had some ideas about what she was going to say. It wasn't really too hard to figure it out.<br/>
<br/>
"I'm not sure about you, but I'm not planning on hiding like a little child while a murderer is tearing through my new home, and I'm pretty sure you agree with me on that," she said, slowly, I felt my admiration for her rise, although I wasn't quite sure if that was because of her pro-activeness, or just a side-effect of her aura kicking up a notch in anticipation.<br/>
<br/>
"Are you going where I think you're going with this? Because I know a journalist without a sense of self-preservation that could help us out," I answered<br/>
<br/>
"Good," she replied, smiling.<br/>
<br/>
We were interrupted by someone else walking towards us. Not one of the locals, but someone I'd expected to leave on one of the connecting flights.<br/>
<br/>
"So, I heard you've got a Warlock in town," Hookwolf stated, talking to Shuffle.<br/>
<br/>
"And you are?" he asked.<br/>
<br/>
"Hookwolf. A Nazi, a murderer, and an all-around savage. Used to be part of the Empire Eighty-Eight," Glory Girl said.<br/>
<br/>
"Don't forget the fucking dog-fighting," I added in.<br/>
<br/>
"Means towards a worthy end," Hookwolf replied. "Is it murder to kill vampires? To slaughter your way through ghouls and the unseelie?"<br/>
<br/>
"So you're a murderer and a loonie, whoop-die-fucking-doo," Glory Girl said sarcastically.<br/>
<br/>
"You're here to help with our target?" Shuffle asked.<br/>
<br/>
"I live for the hunt. You give me an acceptable target, and I'll take him down," Hookwolf said.<br/>
<br/>
"You can't seriously be entertaining this guy's proposal? He's a murderer, not a superpowered corner-store thief!" Victoria said.<br/>
<br/>
"Me? No, I don't want to accept his help, but I'm not the guy in charge, and given how serious director Heathrow is taking this, I'm willing to bet he'll take any help he can get," Shuffle replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Even if your little cure is just as bad as the problem?" Victoria asked.<br/>
<br/>
"If the cure turns out to be worse than the disease, then I'm happy I'm not the one calling the shots," Shuffle said. "If the boss wants it, then the boss can take the blame if things go wrong."<br/>
<br/>
"Bullshit!" Glory Girl exclaimed.<br/>
<br/>
"Hush child, the adults are talking," Hookwolf replied.<br/>
<br/>
"Oh go fuck yourself. You're not some misunderstood edgelord like fucking Shadow Stalker, you're a fucking Nazi!" she yelled back. Given her background, the way her family worked, I could kind of understand her point of view. New Wave, after all, didn't have civilian oversight to hide behind if things went wrong. It reminded me of my conversation with Miss Militia, and it wasn't a conflict that was going anywhere.<br/>
<br/>
Then again, I couldn't help but think about the temporary alliance we'd had against the ABB. Hookwolf had been part of that as well, although Kaiser's selfish behavior had almost gotten us killed against Lung. Plus, there was the very Endbringer fight we had just returned from.<br/>
<br/>
"Come on, let's go, no use talking to men like him," I said, pulling on Victoria's arm. "Besides, we have a criminal to track down. Can I borrow your phone? I need to call someone."<br/>
<br/>
As we walked away, Victoria handed me her phone. Then, hoping my techbane aura didn't destroy it instantly, I dialed the number of my teacher's girlfriend. We had a warlock to catch, and a scoop to get.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Toot-Toot</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So what's the plan?" Vicky asked, as I led her towards the airport lockers.<br/><br/>"Gather information, track down the bad guy, then take him down?" I replied, as I punched in the code of my locker, desperately hoping that the electronic system wouldn't explode on me.<br/><br/>"You do know that that's not actually a plan, right? I mean, It's the steps of a plan, but it's not a plan," she said as she snuck a look at the contents of my locker.<br/><br/>This locker, unlike my last one, wasn't filled with filth from Emma and her cronies. Instead, it contained a shirt, a hoodie, comfy sweatpants, and a backpack to stash my costume in.<br/><br/>"Mind watching my back while I change?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Sure, but, aren't you afraid people will recognize you if you're in your civvies with me?"<br/><br/>"Good point, can you change into civvies?" I asked her.<br/><br/>"Skits... I'm internationally renowned for having a public identity."<br/><br/>"Internationally? You mean you've got horny European teenagers following you on Twitter?"<br/><br/>"You get what I mean," Victoria pouted. My assumption had probably been correct. Still, Vicky prided herself on her popularity, and the few times that we'd stopped a crime together, she'd insisted it wasn't a real capture unless we put a selfie online with the caught criminal in the background. She'd been mostly kidding, but only mostly.<br/><br/>"Look, this is Chicago, not the Bay. Put on a hoodie or something and you're just as invisible as everyone else. The only way anyone would recognize you is if you start flying around all of a sudden."<br/><br/>"Oh great, now you're telling me I can't just float everywhere. You're not my mom!" she replied with a grin on her face. It took a while before she realized what she just said.<br/><br/>"Now, as for the plan, I'm afraid I'm going to have to start by feeding the cat," I said, quickly changing the topic.<br/><br/>"You have a cat?" she replied, turning her mood around again.<br/><br/>"Not my cat, Myrddin's. I promised him I'd take care of it," I said.<br/><br/>"Oh, right, you're buddies with Myrddin. How'd that happen?"<br/><br/>"Long story short? I live with his girlfriend."<br/><br/>"Myrddin has a girlfriend? I thought he was dating Chevalier!" she said, outraged.<br/><br/>"Why does everyone think that?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Internet? Plus, Chevvy hints it hard. Last month, there was an interview in this magazine about medieval arms, and he spent half the time talking about King Arthur and the sword in the stone, and there was a Myrddin poster in the background of his office, lots of subtle stuff."<br/><br/>"Trust me, he's not dating Chevalier. And if he were, don't you think they would've lived in the same place? I mean, Philly and Chicago? That's more than six hundred miles, and neither of them can teleport."<br/><br/>"I'm not saying they're dating, I'm just saying, you know, friends with benefits? Anyway, doesn't matter, we've got a cat to feed, and clothes to shop for."<br/><br/>Holding the backpack of clothes, we made our way to a quiet part of the airfield, where Victoria held watch while I was changing. I took my costume, armor pieces, and a sleeping Lisa, and put them in the backpack again.<br/><br/>"Meet you at Fugly Bob's in an hour?" I asked. That would give me the time I needed to get to Harry's place, do what I needed to do, and give Mister some much needed attention.<br/><br/>"Sure, I'll go get some clean clothes first. These are all... well, you know," she said, motioning towards her once pristine white costume, now covered in ash, dust, scorch-marks and what might have been blood.<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>I made my way down the stairs leading to Harry's apartment, and carefully went through the wards attached to his threshold, the natural magical barrier around just about every home. I had an amulet that would temporarily deactivate them, letting me through in case I needed to be there to, say, try my hands at making a potion and/or explosion again. Or in this case, feed Mister and ask Bob for help.<br/><br/>Bob was Harry's skull. Not in the sense that he was a body part, but in the sense that it was a skull that Harry owned, that contained an old spirit of intellect. Spirits of intellect were, apparently, some sort of magical version of Lisa's power, and Bob served as Harry's magical assistant when he wasn't leering at pictures of naked women, or failing at flirting with Lisa. He knew almost everything about magic, and had no sense of morality to go with it. That was why Harry had told me not to depend on him too much. Knowledge, magical knowledge, could be dangerous if it wasn't tempered by experience.<br/><br/>Of course, it probably wasn't as dangerous as a Warlock running around eating people's souls or whatever they did.<br/><br/>As I opened the door, I was promptly thrown on my face by a massive cat bowling its way through my legs. I still wasn't sure why Harry found that endearing, maybe it was because he had a more stable stance.<br/><br/>Normally I would've seen it coming through my bugs, but no matter how messy Harry's apartment got, the tiny furry murder machine kept it entirely clean. That and Harry made sure there weren't any cockroaches to break his magic circle and eat his ghost dust.<br/><br/>"Hey Mister," I greeted the cat, which was now patting at my backpack.<br/><br/>Cats had some sort of strange supernatural property that allowed them to, amongst other things, see ghosts. As such, Mister had probably noticed a sleeping Lisa, and wanted to order her around in the way that cats did.<br/><br/>I made my way through the mess that Harry called an apartment, found the bag of cat food, and filled up Mister's food bowl. Mister walked over, dutifully ignoring his servants for the duration of the meal. In the meantime, I made my way downstairs into Harry's laboratory, which was located in a sub-basement, just below the basement that was Harry's apartment.<br/><br/>A small concrete box, it contained a few racks of odds and ends Harry used for magic, an elaborate circle he used for summoning creatures of the Nevernever, a table that Harry told me contained a special project he was working on that I most definitely shouldn't touch. It looked like a toddler's shitty arts and crafts project, but Harry insisted it would be 'really cool' once it was done.<br/><br/>There was also a small cauldron, as well as a tiny desk with some books on it that I'd been using to try and independently create a potion, closely supervised by a Dresden that was too busy playing around with his little whatever it was going to be. I grabbed the one potion that wasn't a failure. Bob had called it an escape potion, but it was actually closer to a potion of teleportation, allowing me to escape into a random direction upon drinking it. The idea being that, in the case that an enemy Brute made his or her way to my real body, I'd drink it, and we'd start all over again.<br/><br/>"Hey Bob, you there?" I asked, and the lights in the eye of the skull lit up.<br/><br/>"Morning Taylor," Bob replied, reminding me that I hadn't slept for an entire night.<br/><br/>"We've got a problem and I need your help."<br/><br/>"What is it? Do you need someone to unhook your bra? Because I think I can help with that."<br/><br/>"Really Bob, really? I thought you were supposed to be based on Harry's personality."<br/><br/>"Well, yeah, when he picked me up. And he was a horny teenager back then. It's not my fault I'm like this, I can't help it!"<br/><br/>"Good excuse. Anyway, I'm talking about a real problem. I think there's a Warlock around and I need to know what to do."<br/><br/>"Well, if it's a guy, you should put on one of this tight tops you see in the movies, more your hips a little, maybe put on some of that black make up like you see on those suicide girls, and last but most certainly not least, put out."<br/><br/>"What?" I asked, my mouth hanging open.<br/><br/>"Well, I mean, he's not going to teach you for no reason, and I'm pretty sure you don't have enough money to pay for that kind of stuff."<br/><br/>"I'm trying to take him down Bob! Not whatever you're fantasizing about!"<br/><br/>"Ohhh, that does make more sense. Sorry, I'm bad at this morality stuff. Anyway, are you sure about that? I'm sure there's lots of stuff he could tell you that Harry wouldn't."<br/><br/>I thought about it for a second. Did I want knowledge about stuff that, when you did it, actually corrupted your soul and made you more evil? Probably not. Then again, that was what I was asking Bob about.<br/><br/>"Look, just give me the basics Bob, what should I be expecting?"<br/><br/>"Dunno, what do you know about him?"<br/><br/>"Shuffle said the Warlock murdered a group of people in some sort of ritualistic fashion, Myrddin's evil twin, he called it. The PRT thinks he might be going after parahumans next, but I don't know why they think that." I explained.<br/><br/>"Sounds like some sort of sacrifice thing. Dark magic, eating people to get stronger, but I don't know why he would be going after parahumans specifically."<br/><br/>"Why?" I asked him.<br/><br/>"Well, on the face of it, it makes sense. Parahumans are stronger than most people, so eating their essence makes you stronger than eating a normal human," Bob said.<br/><br/>"Yeah, makes sense in some twisted fucked up kind of way. Like getting experience in a video game or something."<br/><br/>"Except it doesn't," Bob said. "Think about it."<br/><br/>I pondered what Bob said, wishing Lisa wasn't sleeping. She'd have this entire thing puzzled out in a jiffy.<br/><br/>"This is about the thing isn't it? The way everything doesn't match up because powers aren't magical. From a magical perspective, parahumans and humans are basically interchangeable outside of the little brain connection," I said, my mind quickly figuring out why none of this made sense. "So, if they're interchangeable, why pick a target that can actually fight back? And why does the PRT think that he's going after a parahuman next?"<br/><br/>"Exactly, I mean, from a magical perspective, that little brain pokémon of yours is basically inanimate," Bob said.<br/><br/>"Except we know that's not true," I replied. "Because of Lisa."<br/><br/>"Good point," Bob said. "Lemme think for a second. Lisa's brain-computer thingy got attached to her, then they merged together, and when Lisa died, it was like losing an arm or a leg, instead of wholly dying. And usually, for whatever reason, nothing comes of that, but in the case of Lisa, it reconnected with her ghost, creating some sort of soul-ghost-power amalgamation that's both alive and dead at the same time."<br/><br/>"I think that's about right."<br/><br/>"And that doesn't make sense, because there's not supposed to be any magic outside of Earth Bet and the Nevernever, and we're pretty sure that powers are located outside of Earth Bet," Bob theorized.<br/><br/>"Except we know from Lisa's existence and Harry's power that it is possible for magic and souls and things like that to exist there, although it has to come from this universe," I added. "So, what if there's a parahuman with a good connection, like Lisa used to have, and the Warlock eats them, for lack of better words. Except, instead of just gobbling up the human part, he uses that connection to make sure he eats the power too.<br/><br/>"Except…if it's that easy, why hasn't anyone done that before?" I concluded.<br/><br/>"Because no-one knew what to look for, and those in the magical community who knew about how powers work were also convinced that it wouldn't be possible," Bob explained. "At least until Tattletale appeared."<br/><br/>"So, any idea what will happen if they eat the entire parahuman?" I asked, a doom scenario unfolding in my head.<br/><br/>"Best case scenario? Absolutely nothing. Worst case scenario? They gain access to all the abilities that the parahuman had. Absolutely even worse scenario? Something involving second trigger stuff and even more nonsensical abilities. Honestly, I don't know, and I'd like to figure it out," Bob said.<br/><br/>"Except that that would be wrong, because someone would be dead," I replied.<br/><br/>"Well, yeah, sure. I mean, if you look at it like that. But come on, aren't you the least bit interested?"<br/><br/>"A little… But, not enough to let someone die. In the meantime, do you have any idea who might be behind this?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Not really. We can narrow it down a bit, as there's a limited pool of individuals that have access to the reports Harry sends to the White Council, but even then, most of the factions in the Unseelie Accords are probably aware of Tattletale's status by now. And they wouldn't do this themselves, they'd set up a cat's paw to try it out first. If their guy spontaneously explodes, they know not to try it themselves."<br/><br/>"So all things considered. We've got exactly nada. Any other advice?"<br/><br/>"Leave it to someone else? I mean, it's not like he's coming after you specifically," Bob suggested.<br/><br/>I thought about it for a bit. Leaving it to the professionals. I quickly dismissed the idea. I wanted to be a hero, a real hero. Not someone that plays bait and gets to spend half a week in the hospital while everyone else is fighting, not just some street patrols.<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>"You're lucky, I just opened," Bob said. This Bob, however, wasn't a disembodied skull with glowing lights in his eye-holes. No, instead, this Bob was someone who could only be described as, well, fucking ugly. Which was probably why it was called Fugly Bob's. He was also fat though, so maybe it was meant to stand for Fat and Ugly instead.<br/><br/>"Oh? I thought you opened at eight?" Victoria asked, looking at the extraordinarily fat man.<br/><br/>"Normally, yes, but something came up last night, and I was up all night," he replied, giving her a wink.<br/><br/>"Tay? what do you want? I'm getting a Challenger and a coke," she asked.<br/><br/>"Two Challengers. One of them to go," I replied. I hadn't eaten much since I'd heard Behemoth was going to attack, and I could eat a whole zebra. Or maybe even a Challenger. As for the other burger, I had some plans for that.<br/><br/>"You sure? You're awfully skinny, and they're not for amateurs," Vicky said.<br/><br/>"I thought you were the one always watching her figure?" I replied while we were sitting down in one of the booths at the window. The same booth where I'd first met Harry, coincidentally.<br/><br/>"Common misconception, having a great figure is one of my side-powers."<br/><br/>"I honestly have no idea if you're kidding or not," I said.<br/><br/>"Long story short, It's probably something with my flying and stuff. I mean, I have to actively remember to walk around and stuff, and I don't really burn calories to the same extent normal people do. I don't get tired while flying."<br/><br/>"So, logically speaking, you should be fat," I said.<br/><br/>"Yep, but I've got some sort of side-power that stops that from happening. Just like how I can breathe underwater or touch people trough my forcefield. Lots of little stuff that makes sure I don't fall apart using my powers."<br/><br/>"I've got something similar going on with my brain," I told her. "Extended multitasking so that I can actually keep track of all the thousands of bugs I've got flying around. By the way, the kitchen here? Surprisingly clean for a fast food joint."<br/><br/>We were interrupted by Bob plonking down two ridiculously large burgers in front of our faces, as well as a bag with a third. I looked at mine with apprehension. That thing was way larger than I remembered it, and Harry would have a field day with that thought if he could read my mind.<br/><br/>"Showww" Victoria mumbled through her stuffed mouth, "Whas exphfwha buwghwer fwhor?"<br/><br/>"It's a bribe," I replied, taking care to speak in between bites, rather than during.<br/><br/>"I knew this city was corrupt, but can you actually buy people with burgers here?" she asked, her mouth empty for a second.<br/><br/>"Not talking about people," I clarified, although, given the reach that men like Marcone seemed to have in Chicago, she probably wasn't entirely wrong with her remark.<br/><br/>"Show fwho ar u bwibingh?"<br/><br/>"Promise not to laugh?" I asked. If Vicky reacted the same way I'd done to the upcoming revelation, we would have a problem.<br/><br/>"Pfwhomise," Vicky said, before taking a sip from her drink.<br/><br/>"I'm going to ask a faerie to go scouting for us," I said.<br/><br/>Vicky replied by doing a literal spit-take, Coke and bits of burger flying out of her mouth and nose, and I couldn't help but laugh at it. Eventually, about a minute later, Victoria spoke up again.<br/><br/>"That's a good one, but really, what's the deal with the extra burger?"<br/><br/>"Eat your burger, I'll show you after," I replied.<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>Victoria looked skeptically at the circle of silk I'd had my spiders prepare in the alley behind Fugly Bob's while we had been eating.<br/><br/>"You know, I think you've been hanging out with Myrddin a little bit too much," she said.<br/><br/>"You don't know half of it, just watch," I replied while putting a tiny container of coffee milk in the circle, next to the toast with honey. That was the lure, once he'd had a taste, I'd wow my target with the burger, and he'd do whatever I asked of him, just like my bugs did.<br/><br/>"Toot-Toot, Toot-Toot, Toot-Toot," I spoke.<br/><br/>"So crazy really is contagious… Too bad Amy doesn't do heads, because something is obviously wrong with yours."<br/><br/>"Just hide behind this dumpster with me will you?" I said, pulling her with me to the rather bad hiding spot.<br/><br/>Before she could continue insulting my sanity, a small orb of blue light, sort of reminiscent of Tattletale's new form, dropped from the sky, into the circle. It transformed into a six inch tall man with a skirt made out of a leaf, purple hair, and four butterfly-like wings on his back. He promptly started munching on the prepared food.<br/><br/>The moment he was properly inside of the circle, I put some energy into it, locking the dewdrop fairy inside of it.<br/><br/>"The fuck is that!" Vicky yelled.<br/><br/>"That's Toot-Toot. He's a dewdrop faerie," I replied.<br/><br/>"YOU!" Toot yelled, finally noticing us. He flew forwards, crashing straight into the barrier of my spidersilk circle.<br/><br/>"You tricked me!" he yelled.<br/><br/>"To be fair, you're really easy to trick," I replied.<br/><br/>"I should've known you can't be trusted! You're just like Harry, always wanting something done! I'll tear out your hair and fill your ears with bedbugs!"<br/><br/>"And just like Harry, I'll give you something in return for your help," I stated calmly, walking towards him.<br/><br/>"Pfft, sure, if it was a fair deal, you wouldn't need to bind me in a circle!"<br/><br/>"If I didn't bind you in a circle, you'd run the moment you saw me," I said. Although I had to admit I hadn't actually tried it without a circle.<br/><br/>"So, is he real?" Vicky asked.<br/><br/>"He is standing right over here lady!" Toot-Toot yelled. "I am Toot-Toot the mighty, scourge of Chicago! I am he to whom heroes are beholden! Fear me!"<br/><br/>"What's he talking about?" Vicky asked.<br/><br/>"Wanton and Annex keep feeding him pizza because they think he's funny, it's gotten into his ego," I replied.<br/><br/>"Noodle is an honorable man and I will not have you besmirch his name! Let me out and fight me! I will rip your eyes out of your skull!" Toot yelled.<br/><br/>"Wait, he thinks that Noodle is the real name?" Vicky asked.<br/><br/>"We're getting off track guys," I stated. "Toot, there's a Warlock going around killing people with black magic. Can you help us track down where people have been doing anything like that in the city?"<br/><br/>"I'm not an errand boy Taylor, now let me out or I'll put salt in your tea!" Toot replied, giving me the first threat that actually scared me a little.<br/><br/>"You know, he's so small, he's probably not good enough to do anything like that," Vicky said with a smile on her face.<br/><br/>"Sure I could, wouldn't take me more than an hour!"<br/><br/>"Very well then Toot. Now, if you promise to do that for me, I'll give you this," I said, unveiling the Challenger.<br/><br/>Toot's mouth dropped open as he gazed at the burger. "What's that?" he asked.<br/><br/>"This is the Fugly Bob's Challenger. Containing over three thousand kilo-calories per serving, it used to be the single largest item on the menu in any and all Brockton Bay restaurants, and it only came to Chicago recently," I explained.<br/><br/>"It has pickles, cheese, meat, tomato, more meat, five different sauces, lettuce, bacon, a five-part bun, mushrooms, onions and egg, topped off with another slice of meat. One of these, and you can fly around for a week, I guarantee it," Vicky said, lifting off the ground.<br/><br/>Toot-Toot's jaw dropped again when he saw that. "Where are your wings?" he asked.<br/><br/>"Wings? Don't need them," Vicky replied, fully applying her aura. I wasn't quite sure whether it would have any effect on whatever went through for Toot's brain, but he was impressed anyway.<br/><br/>"So, you need to know where people have been using black magic?" Toot asked. "I don't know… the city is rather big for just me."<br/><br/>"You know what," Vicky said, having fully taken over the conversation, "If you get any of your faerie friends or whatever to help, then I promise I'll buy each and every one of them a Challenger too."<br/><br/>"Vicky, you don't know what you're saying. Faeries are small, but there's a lot o-"<br/><br/>"Deal, now lemme out!" Toot yelled.<br/><br/>"Fine, fine, Tay, how do I break whatever this is?" Vicky asked.<br/><br/>"Just apply some force to break the circle, it's not strong or anything," I replied. "But you just made a promise to him, so you better keep to it. They won't forgive you if you don't."<br/><br/>Vicky let Toot out of the circle, and the little dewdrop faerie started munching on the massive burger, eating it almost as quickly as Vicky had.<br/><br/>"Aww, he can't be that bad. I mean, come on, he loves Challengers!" Vicky replied.<br/><br/>"Supervillains like Challengers too you know," I said.<br/><br/>"Wait really? Damn, didn't think of that. Still, the Undersiders weren't that bad, except for Tattletale I guess. Where is she anyway?"<br/><br/>"Sleeping in my backpack. I think it's some sort of analogue to Thinker headaches for ghosts," I replied.<br/><br/>"So, she's really a ghost isn't she? Not some sort of Glaistig Uaine type deal or anything like that, but an actual, honest-to-god ghost."<br/><br/>"Yeah… It's a bit more complicated, stuff with her power and things like that, but basically yes."<br/><br/>"And that's an actual faerie, not some sort of projection or anything like that," she stated matter of factly.<br/><br/>"Yeah, that's correct."<br/><br/>"You're a projection!" Toot yelled.<br/><br/>"Toot, I'm pretty sure you don't even know what a projection is," I interjected.<br/><br/>"Do know! It's when, well, it's when you're like her!" Toot yelled.<br/><br/>"Careful Toot, you're talking about the woman that promised you more burgers," I said.<br/><br/>"Yep, so you should probably hurry and find the baddies!"<br/><br/>"Going, going!" Toots yelled, flying away and disappearing around the corner.<br/><br/>"So… When Myrddin claims he's a wizard?" Glory Girl asked.<br/><br/>"He's speaking the truth," I replied.<br/><br/>"Sorry Tay-Tay, but I'm not buying it," she said, although her facial expression wasn't as skeptical as her words.<br/><br/>"Why not?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Well, for one thing, he doesn't have a beard. All wizards have beards," she replied.<br/><br/>"Really? That's your problem with this entire thing?"<br/><br/>"Well, I've seen enough crazy shit to buy the rest of the whole magic shit, but a wizard without a beard? I mean, come on… everyone knows wizards have beards."<br/><br/>"They're also supposed to be wise old men, not silly idiots in their twenties."<br/><br/>"I guess you have a point… Still kind of bummed about the beard thing though."<br/><br/>"Ehh, I'll introduce you Ebenezer if he's ever in town. He's old, grumbly and bearded."<br/><br/>"So… given by what I've been seeing today, I have to ask..." Vicky said.<br/><br/>"What now?" I asked, expecting something just as inane as the previous comment about Harry's lack of beard.<br/><br/>"Where's your beard?" she asked, completely confirming my expectations.<br/><br/>I groaned, and slapped my palm against my forehead. "Why would I have a beard?"<br/><br/>"Well, just like a five-o-clock shadow or something? I mean, I obviously don't expect you to have a Dumbledore style monstrosity yet, but you gotta start somewhere right?"<br/><br/>"I don't even know how to respond to that," I replied.<br/><br/>"Well, it's either that, or you get yourself a crazy hat and a broomstick."<br/><br/>"What gave it away?" I asked.<br/><br/>"You mean apart from summoning faeries in magic circles and hanging out with Myrddin? It's kind of obvious T. So give it to me straight, how do I become a witch?"<br/><br/>"You don't, unless you happen to have magical potential. I'm not quite sure how it works, I'll ask Myrddin when he's back."<br/><br/>"Oooh, and now that I know magic's real, do you have to kill me?" she asked, far too happy about the idea of being murdered.<br/><br/>"What do you think?" I asked.<br/><br/>"That you obviously don't, since Myrddin just tells everyone magic is real and nobody believes him anyway?"<br/><br/>"Seems about right yeah. I mean, mostly magical shit stays hidden because they don't want a couple thousand cops on their ass. Needless to say, it's gotten worse since people have gotten superpowers."<br/><br/>"So, that whole vampire gang, are they actual vampires?"<br/><br/>"Mostly yeah. Though I'm not sure if Skiddy got turned, and I'm pretty sure Crimson Blade is just parahuman with blood powers or something."<br/><br/>"And this serial killer guy? He's an evil wizard right?" she asked, more worried now.<br/><br/>"Actual black magic, yeah, though he's not necessarily as good as Myrddin or other wizards. He's probably bulking up though, so I'd rather have a lot of back-up when we find him."<br/><br/>"So, what's next, we wait for Puck to come back?"<br/><br/>"Nope, now it's time for you to meet Susan."<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>I'd been gone for a single night, and the apartment was already a mess. There was a pizza box on the couch, an empty wine bottle on the table, and a whole lot of half-eaten snacks spread around. Our entrance was marked by a long wait, followed by a "Coming" from Susan's bedroom.<br/><br/>Five minutes later, she slogged into the living room where Vicky and I were drinking tea. She was wearing a big bathrobe and spider slippers. The slippers were a gift she'd given me for my birthday, and promptly stolen for herself again. It was the thought that counted though.<br/><br/>"Hi Susan, meet Vicky. Vicky, Susan," I said, sitting down with my tea.<br/><br/>"Morning Vicky," Susan mumbled, while Victoria replied with a "Hi, nice to meet you."<br/><br/>"Bad night?" I asked.<br/><br/>"With you and Harry in India? While I couldn't do anything but watch the news? yeah, you could say I had a bad night. How'd it go?" Susan said, walking to the coffee machine.<br/><br/>"Not bad, not good? A bit of both? Large parts of the city were destroyed, but someone managed to chop its head off and set it fleeing. I couldn't do much more than help people escape though," I replied, wincing as I saw Victoria put three sugar cubes in her tea. Sure, she was immune to getting fat, but that didn't mean she could just go and ruin tea like that...<br/><br/>"Same here, kill-aura and stuff," Victoria said nonchalantly, drinking the tea before realizing it was still hot. I wondered how far her shield extended. Did it stop at her mouth? go down her esophagus into her stomach? How did it define the outside of her body? was there a circular forcefield throughout her intestinal track?<br/><br/>"And Harry's alright? He send me a message that he's alive, but not much more," Susan asked, placing her cup under the machine and setting it all the way to strong.<br/><br/>"Yeah, he's fine. He had to stay a while to chat with some people and he's helping to clean up the radiation. Asked me to feed Mister for him," I explained.<br/><br/>"Ah, good," Susan said, breathing a sigh of relief while smelling at her coffee, letting the vapors nourish her.<br/><br/>"Anyway, we've got a different problem," I said.<br/><br/>"What now? That Annex kid trying to flirt with you again?" Susan said, looking around in pity. It hadn't been that bad, I'd mostly just felt bad for the guy, since it wasn't his fault I was completely uninterested in him.<br/><br/>"I wish… There's a Warlock in town and he's eating people."<br/><br/>"Eating people?" Susan asked, taking a chair and starting to sip on her coffee.<br/><br/>"Taking their power for himself, human sacrifice, that sort of thing," I explained.<br/><br/>"And you decided to come to me because you were going to do the smart thing and stay inside, right?" she said skeptically, already knowing the answer. She had a point, but not a very good one. I knew how far she would go for a scoop, so she was in no place to protest.<br/><br/>"No, we're going to do the heroic thing and track him down, before calling everyone in town and ganging up on him with like twenty people," Vicky said enthusiastically.<br/><br/>"And you are?" Susan asked, finally<br/><br/>"Victori-" Vicky said before being interrupted by a suddenly wide awake Susan<br/><br/>"Holy shit you're Glory Girl can I get an interview!" Susan yelled, hot coffee spurting out of her nose.<br/><br/>"Sure?" Vicky replied. "Are you okay?"<br/><br/>"Yeah… It's just, Glory Girl, wow…" Susan said.<br/><br/>"I don't… You're dating Myrddin and you live with Skitter of all people. How come you're so impressed with me being Glory Girl?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Because, and no offense here Tay, they're just capes. While you? you're an icon! The trendsetter of Brockton Bay High Society and probably one of the most influential internet personalities of the decade! I mean, after Lisa's twitter, but no-one can beat that."<br/><br/>"Who's Lisa?" Vicky asked.<br/><br/>"Tattletale," I answered.<br/><br/>"Ah, makes sense. Do you have any idea when she's going to wake up? I mean, she's kind of going to be useful here," Vicky said.<br/><br/>"Not sure. I was going to put her in the charging station, not that she needs to use it, but it seems to help her sleep at night, so I thought maybe it would help her recover."<br/><br/>"Sounds like it makes sense, in some sort of weird way."<br/><br/>"So, what's this about a dark wizard?" Susan asked, now actually paying attention.<br/><br/>I explained the situation, and our pressing need to find the bad guy before he could eat more people, possibly even parahumans. Then, we started planning in earnest.</p>
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<a name="section0003"><h2>3. Glorious Demonhuntress</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Skitter, Victoria decided for what must have been the fifth time, was weird.<br/><br/>At first, she'd thought so because the girl had been a creepy supervillain. Their first meeting involved Skitter holding a bank hostage with deadly spider bites, Amy smacking Skitter in the face with a fire extinguisher, Tattletwat going on about some sort of bullshit secrets, and Amy caving in to the wannabe psychic. Which was ridiculous, you'd need a brain the size of a barn to be a psychic.<br/><br/>Then again, you also needed an airplane to fly around in, so maybe the scientists in parahuman studies were just completely wrong. They probably didn't believe in magic either.<br/><br/>The second time Victoria had thought Skitter was weird was when the girl and her team of teenage bank robbers had randomly decided to attack a fundraiser, with half the Protectorate present. Which had been a phenomenally bad idea. The only thing that made it worse was the fact that they then proceeded to not actually steal anything.<br/><br/>It hadn't made any sense to her then, and recent revelations had only slightly improved that.<br/><br/>The third time she'd been surprised by the girl's behavior was during the Leviathan fight, when according to all accounts, she'd grabbed Armsmaster's new halberd and went into the melee with the creature for at least several seconds. It just hadn't been logical. According to Laserdream, she'd been useful in her scouting role, but did she think she hadn't been doing enough? Victoria could sympathize with that, she'd definitely felt bad during the Behemoth fight. Unlike against Leviathan, she hadn't been able to do all that much, what with Behemoth's kill aura bypassing her normally impervious forcefield.<br/><br/>The fourth time was during their first meeting in Chicago, where mega-Judas had decided to completely cover her in spit, far too happy to see someone he remembered again. Amy had touched her when helping her up, and almost immediately blurted out her secret identity in what must've been the most tactless meeting in the history of tactless meetings. They'd chatted afterwards, and Taylor had explained at least some of what had been going on in Brockton Bay with the Undersiders. Most of her excuse had been that Armsmaster was an asshole, which was understandable, and according to the Chicago PRT she'd turned over a new leaf as a vigilante. Which just brought to mind all kinds of questions as to why, if she was going to betray them, she was still hanging out with a ghost version of Tattletwat, because even death wouldn't shut that girl up.<br/><br/>And now, it turned out that Myrddin was an actual wizard, the gang with the crazy vampire team was an actual group of vampires, and Taylor was learning magic and summoning fairies called Toot, before bribing them with hamburgers.<br/><br/>Needless to say, she hadn't been as shocked as she should've been.<br/><br/>Susan however, she decided, was one of the most decidedly normal people she'd met so far. Attractive, confident, intelligent, and not a secret supervillain or something like that. Probably.<br/><br/>After all, she was a journalist, and if Aleph comic books had taught her anything, it was that mild-mannered journalists were all secretly Alexandria.<br/><br/>She looked at the woman once more, looking for traces of perfect Kryptonian skin cells, and found nothing. Which was exactly what she'd see if this woman was actually secretly Alexandria. After all, it would be foolish to look perfect in civilian guise if you were known for having skin that was too invulnerable to need skin-care products.<br/><br/>Then again, Alexandria probably wasn't dating Myrddin, because Alexandria probably wouldn't keep her boytoy all the way over in Chicago, and because Myrddin was already dating Chevalier, at least in her headcanon. Sure, physical evidence of Myrddin's actual female girlfriend told her that that was wrong, but all those photoshopped pictures of the two of them together were just so damn cute…<br/><br/>Maybe thinking about all of that was why she was zoning out when the investigative journalist and her bug-controlling apprentice asked her a question.<br/><br/>"What?" she asked.<br/><br/>"We were asking if you had any ideas," Taylor said.<br/><br/>"Don't really know. Aunt Sarah did most of the investigative work back home, while I just went out and punched criminals until they told me what I wanted to know," Victoria replied.<br/><br/>"And that worked?" Myrddin's girlfriend asked.<br/><br/>"Usually? I can be pretty scary if I want to be," she said, thinking of the more overt application of her aura.<br/><br/>Technically, it only increased the fear that was already there, using it to draw information from a terrified gang member was really no different from asking questions to a drunk person.<br/><br/>Sadly, there had been no underwater monsters waiting on the floor of the bay, eating shipwrecks with Tabasco sauce.<br/><br/>"Don't think that will work here. What's happening doesn't fit the usual MO of the cities' major players, and lone gunmen are usually pretty hard to find," Susan said.<br/><br/>"So what, we wait for your tiny friend to come back with some info?"<br/><br/>"That, and we check other sources. PHO might know something about it even if most of what is posted there is hokum."<br/><br/>"Why is the person responsible for the article about Aegis being a flying ghoul calling others hokum?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>"Because I needed to make rent," Susan replied.<br/><br/>"Good point," Victoria admitted. (Sure, she and Amy had been able to get by on their inheritance, but not everyone was able to do the smart thing and inherit all their money.)<br/><br/>"Victoria, I'm assuming you have a working phone?" Susan asked.<br/><br/>"Yep, newest model, and I didn’t fall for that whole microwaving thing!" she said proudly. Eric had been so pissed, the idiot.<br/><br/>"Good. Because apparently," Susan said, motioning towards her laptop. "The victims so far have all been homeless. If you two go ask some questions in the local community, I'll do some more research, call some sources, and get back to you when I find something.<br/><br/>"Good idea," Taylor said. "Though I should probably go get changed."<br/><br/>The wizard's apprentice disappeared behind a door while Victoria gave her number to Susan.<br/><br/>About fifteen minutes later, she returned, now clad in skin-tight silk, which wasn’t as exciting as it sounded. First of all because it was much thicker than the phrase ‘silk fabric’ usually called to mind, secondly because it was covered in armor plates, and finally because, if she had to be honest about it, Taylor just did not have an amazing body<br/><br/>The costume did, however, transform her. Without it, Victoria thought, Taylor looked somewhat insecure, maybe even shy. A perpetual wallflower reading a book while everyone else was having fun at a party. In costume however, she commanded attention. The inhuman mask and the great swarms of bugs that accompanied her made her into someone that could not be ignored. Someone decisive that could enact her will upon the world around her. It was, she thought, the complete opposite of herself.<br/><br/>Sure, she had a cape name and a costume. But even compared to the rest of her family, Victoria was the same person as Glory Girl. Putting on the tiara and the dress didn’t feel like a costume change, like pretending to be someone else, and without her mother and aunt getting on her case, she’d caught herself flying around without it more and more often. The biggest reason she wore it these days was because without it, the people of Chicago wouldn’t immediately recognize her as a cape like they’d done back in Brockton Bay.<br/><br/>Two hours, four drunks, a set of junkies, a veteran that claimed to be from the Napoleonic wars (French side) and a masturbating bum later, they'd found very little of use. Yes, there had been disappearances, but not more than usual in a city like Chicago, and none of them could be tracked back to someone in a dark cloak and a crazy mustache, or whatever the bad guy would end up wearing.<br/><br/>"Well this sucks," Victoria said.<br/><br/>"I just wish Tattletale would wake up, she'd have this whole thing figured out in a couple of minutes," Taylor replied.<br/><br/>"What's with you and that girl anyway?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>Taylor went silent for a bit, thinking about the remark.<br/><br/>"She… she was there for me when I really needed someone. I know it might not look like much from your perspective, but that meant a lot to me."<br/><br/>"Enough that you can forgive the supervillainy?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>"There were… extenuating circumstances, you should probably ask her instead, it's not my story to tell."<br/><br/>"Extenuating circumstances huh… do all you ex-villains have those?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>"Most of us? I guess? I'm pretty sure that Mockshow girl just doesn't give a shit though."<br/><br/>"So she stopped being a villain because it's more convenient that way?"<br/><br/>"I think so? I mean, part of my reason for capering was escapism, so it's not like have the right to say anything."<br/><br/>Their conversation was interrupted by a small light appearing from the sky, and dropping in front of them. Quickly, the light was joined by another, then another, and another, until the alley was filled with tiny floating lights that coalesced into tiny faeries. Victoria tried counting them, but there had to be more than a hundred of them there.<br/><br/>"You're back already? Does that mean you found something?" Taylor asked them.<br/><br/>Toot-Toot, commander in chief of the group of tiny fairies, nodded in confirmation.<br/><br/>"It was a bit tricky, cause I couldn't get enough of them to help because usually Harry offers pizza!" Toot replied.<br/><br/>Vicky looked around, there were a hundred of them, and Toot had had a hard time recruiting?<br/><br/>"Fuck…" Skitter suddenly said.<br/><br/>"What is it?" Vicky replied.<br/><br/>"Just… make sure to get them those Challengers you promised? It's a bad idea to break deals with faeries," she said.<br/><br/>Vicky did some quick calculations. On one hand, two hundred of the massive challengers would be a bit over a thousand bucks, so it was affordable but expensive. On the other hand, she wasn't quite sure how Bob would react after asking for two hundred burgers at a time. Was there an extra catering charge?<br/><br/>"You mean, like, deal with the devil bad?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>"Well, it's just a burger, so it won't give them much power over you, but they take debts really seriously," Skitter said.<br/><br/>"Anyway, you guys find our guy?"<br/><br/>"Uh-huh," Toot-Toot nodded. "It took a while, but we managed to find a guy doing a whole lot of black magic out by the Harbor, it was really interesting. Lots of fun stuff."<br/><br/>"What was he doing?" Skitter asked.<br/><br/>"Well, there was a lot of kissing and all the other stuff, so we got kind of distracted," Toot answered.<br/><br/>"Oh great, he's got a cult," Skitter said.<br/><br/>"That's bad?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>"Probably yeah. There's a lot of magical power in emotions, and if he's got a cult, he's using their emotions to feed his magic to make him even stronger."<br/><br/>"Can you lead us there Toot?"<br/><br/>"Sure thing!" the little faerie said enthusiastically.<br/><br/>Half an hour later, they found themselves at the lakeside, looking at a small warehouse from a distance. Something was definitely going on, and Skitter was using her bugs to investigate the area.<br/><br/>"You find anything yet?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>"It's most definitely the place. Lots of dark magic around, as well as circles and focusses, and an orgy I don't want to take a closer look at," Taylor supplied. "Haven't found the guy himself though, but it just reeks of dark magic in there."<br/><br/>"Good, I'll call it in. Let's not go in there without backup," Victoria said, grabbing her phone from her pocket.<br/><br/>She pressed the button, and waited for the screen to turn on. It wasn't working, which was weird because it was fully charged when she picked it up while changing clothes. In addition to that, she wasn’t Eric, so it should have been working.<br/><br/>“Skitter?” she asked.<br/><br/>“What? I’m scouting,” Skitter replied. “It’s hard to keep track of everything.”<br/><br/>“Still? I thought you could control, like, all the bugs?” Victoria said. From what she’d seen back in Brockton Bay, the girl could easily control thousands of bugs, so scouting one building couldn’t be that difficult right?”<br/><br/>“It’s a magic thing. It’s complicated, but basically, I sacrificed most of my multi-tasking in order to make sure that my mind wasn’t affected by my powers too much.”<br/><br/>“And that works?” Victoria asked.<br/><br/>“I think so. I mean, the bugs aren’t reacting to my subconscious as much as they were before, and my range doesn’t change with my emotions these days, so the mental influence should be under wraps,” the bug girl explained.<br/><br/>“Huh… weird.”<br/><br/>“Why?”<br/><br/>“Because it sounds sort of similar to what that girl, Ingenue, did, only she made people less stable in return for better powers. Say, you think that magic of yours could help me with my aura? Maybe I could finally do stealth.”<br/><br/>“Wouldn’t work,” Skitter answered. “Can’t do magic on someone else's mind, there’s a whole wizard police that comes after people for that sort of stuff.”<br/><br/>“There’s a wizard police?” Victoria said, shocked by the revelation. Just how widespread was magic if wizards had their own police force?<br/><br/>“Yeah, they’re called Wardens. They hunt down dark wizards, that kind of stuff. Myrddin told me they’re really strict though, not even permitting stuff like self-defense most of the time.”<br/><br/>“Hey Skitter,” Victoria said, turning her body towards the girl. A serious undertone was in her voice.<br/><br/>“Look, can I just scout please?” Skitter replied, annoyance in her tone..<br/><br/>“Well no. Because I want to know something first.”<br/><br/>Skitter looked at her, and Victoria imagined she was having one of those ‘what-evahhh’ facial expressions beneath the creepy mask. She probably didn’t, because Taylor wasn’t the type of girl to be all that expressive, or to have a valley-girl accent, but Victoria imagined her behaving like that anyway.<br/><br/>“So, if there’s a group of wizard cops, whose entire raison d’etre is to kill dark magicians, why the fuck are we hunting down this guy?” Victoria asked.<br/><br/>Skitter looked back at her, and Victoria could see her own reflection in the orange lenses of the girl’s mask.<br/><br/>“Because they’re all in New Delhi, dealing with the aftermath of the attack,” Skitter explained.<br/><br/>“And they couldn’t just teleport over here to help out?” Victoria asked her, although it was starting to sound less like a question and more like an accusation.<br/><br/>“Look, we can deal with this ourselves okay? No reason to get them involved.”<br/><br/>Victoria thought about it for a bit. Sure, she could understand the sentiment. She’d disliked having to call in help from the rest of New Wave, and all of New Wave had disliked having to call in help from the Protectorate. Then again, before she’d figured out her six hundred dollar phone broke, they’d been planning to call in the Protectorate anyway, so why not the magic cops? Had Taylor done something that was magically illegal? Were they all really smelly british men with bad teeth? Was the leader of the wardens Taylor’s ex boyfriend and was it all really awkward? She certainly remembered not calling in the Wards when she was in the off-again phase of her relationship with Gallant.<br/><br/>“So, how’s the scouting going?” she asked.<br/><br/>“Again, it’d be a lot easier if you managed to shut up for just a second,” the irritated supervillain said.<br/><br/>“Fine....” Glory Girl said, preparing herself mentally. Not having a phone wasn’t a problem. She’d memorized one of the more obscure numbers for the local PRT, which would mean she just needed to beat up one of the criminals and take their phone to get a direct link with whoever was in charge of troop movements right now.<br/><br/>“I think we have a problem,” Skitter said. Before Victoria could reply, she continued: “I found the enemy, and he’s got someone prisoner. Problem is, I think he also noticed me, as he’s starting the ritual,”<br/><br/>“He’s going to kill someone?” Victoria asked as she felt the adrenaline start coursing through her veins.<br/><br/>“Yes, but there’s some sort of strange magical wards, and what I think is a demo-” Glory Girl immediately knew what to do. There was an enemy about to kill someone, and a villain to beat up. She’d taken flight before Skitter could finish her sentence, and was thinking of a plan while amping up her aura.<br/><br/>On her side, she had one of the more dangerous Shakers in the city. As long as it didn’t have a Brute rating, Skitter could probably take it down. On the other side, an evil warlock with a horde of crazy minions that may or may not have been influenced to be there.<br/><br/>It seemed almost obvious. She’d fly in, aura cranked up fully. Skitter would join her with bugs, and the combination of natural arthropophobia and her own Shaker power would get rid of the mooks almost immediately. Then, she’d slam into the Warlock while the prisoner ran away. Even if the Warlock managed to get away somehow, his forces would have been scattered, and his prisoner freed.<br/><br/>Her massive burst of speed brought her through the parking lot in a flash, and when she crashed through the wall of the warehouse, she saw the first line of enemies.<br/><br/>Half-naked, drugged and drunk, the assembled followers were doing just about everything that got you killed in a horror movie. Now that Glory Girl was in their midst, followed by a small swarm of horrifying bugs, that included running into random objects and walls, as well as splitting up.<br/><br/>She looked around the warehouse. It was large, open, and mostly empty except for whatever the homeless people slash minions slash orgy people had been using. In the middle of the building however, was a closed shipping container. That wasn’t the weird part. The weird part was the elaborate circle around the container, drawn in blood. Runes, Celtic knots, and other things Victoria couldn’t categorize, but almost instinctively knew were probably related to black magic.<br/><br/>Skitter’s swarm of bugs joined her, though it was small. Smaller than it had been at the bank. Was that because of her magic? Or because there weren’t all that many bugs in the area?<br/><br/>As the minions quickly left the area, Skitter’s bugs started blanketing the ground near Glory Girl, but she ignored whatever it was. Someone needed rescuing, and they needed it now.<br/><br/>Glory Girl looked at the circle. Given what she’d seen from Taylor, it was a metaphysical barrier of sorts. And given that it was big, elaborate, and drawn in blood, it was probably powerful.<br/><br/>Then again, Dean had told her the PRT rated her as a Brute 6, which was most definitely powerful.<br/><br/>As Glory Girl charged for the circle, she saw the bugs still in a largely formless cloud on the floor, slowly trying to spell something out. Victoria didn’t have the time to wait for it though, because whoever was locked in that container didn’t have time to wait.<br/><br/>She aimed for her target, and flew forwards, fist in front of her, ready for impact.<br/><br/>The world exploded in light, noise and dust, and Victoria felt herself being launched back. When she opened her eyes again, she was still floating in the warehouse, only the warehouse now had a sun-roof, and the ground around the circle was scorched.<br/><br/>Her impact, however, had destroyed at least part of the circle, and she could see something happening to the container, that had somehow been untouched by the massive explosion.<br/><br/>The side of the container started melting, and once it began deforming, Victoria saw what looked only barely like a claw tear through it.<br/><br/>Once the claw was through, it was followed by a body made of what looked like molten glass, only it wasn’t hot, just wrong. The creature, whatever it was, had two legs, and thick tail that helped it keep balance, Its arms stopped at the elbows, where they turned into several long sharp-looking claws, and instead of a face, it had a hole in its head.<br/><br/>The torso was made out of what looked like flowing glass, twisting around itself like a glassblower was handling it. The extremities were more defined, with scaly-looking patterns of solid matter.<br/><br/>Victoria was almost afraid, until she remembered what she’d just barely heard Skitter say. This was a demon. A real life for reals demon. A monstrosity born out of hellfire and darkness, or maybe a fallen angel, or maybe a human soul tortured into becoming evil, she wasn’t quite sure on the specifics of reality’s cosmology.<br/><br/>Either way, in just a few minutes, she’d be able to call herself a demonslayer.<br/><br/>The demon jumped, the three limbs connecting it to the ground extending all at once. Victoria debated internally what to do. She could probably tank it. Probably. If the glass of it’s torso was sticky, or if it managed to grapple with her, then she might have a problem. In addition to that, this didn’t look like an enemy that would be intimidated if she just stood there and accepted its strongest attack.<br/><br/>With the demon jumping towards her, she used her superior airborne mobility to dodge under it, twisting around it to fly upwards again, before shifting directions towards one of the walls of the warehouse that was still standing.<br/><br/>Before the demon hit the ground, she reached the wall, and started tearing a large metal support beam out of it, ready to use the massive hunk of steel as a weapon.<br/><br/>When she had it out, the demon was already on its way towards her, leaving a black, gloopy trail on the ground that didn’t seem very healthy.<br/><br/>For the second time, the demon jumped. Victoria wasn’t sure why. Either because it was stupid, and didn’t understand that that wouldn’t work, because it had no other options, or because it wanted to use the wall behind her to wall-jump immediately after she’d dodged, hitting her on the rebound.<br/><br/>Not that it mattered, because Glory Girl was not going to do the same thing twice. Wielding the heavy metal beam like a baseball bat, she smashed it into the airborne demon, launching it at the container with a ridiculous speed.<br/><br/>Satisfying as the crunch of a demon being thrown through iron was, it wasn’t as satisfying as it would have been if she’d found some way to dunk it. Even after all the bad memories, Basketball was still the superior sport.<br/><br/>The demon, embedded into the side of the container, managed to tear itself free, destroying the structural integrity of the iron.<br/><br/>As the demon slowly limped towards Glory Girl, Victoria heard three things.<br/><br/>First of all, there was the sound of someone both crudely cursing and screaming in pain at the same time, somewhere in the middle of the torn container. Second, there was another, different person, cursing with slightly more self-respect. Third, there was an enormous buzzing behind her. She turned around, and saw a massive cloud of bugs coming towards the building from all sides.<br/><br/>Hadn’t Taylor said she couldn’t do that kind of multitasking anymore?<br/><br/>Putting the thought to the side for now, Glory Girl shifted her grip on the long piece of metal, holding it like a medieval jouster would. You know, if they could fly instead of ride horses.<br/><br/>Then, she made her way towards the demon, hoping to spear it on the tip, and get it away from whatever was happening inside.<br/><br/>Flying forwards, the demon seemed ready to face her head-on. Which was a problem, because she still wasn’t entirely sure whether it was stupid or not. It could just be dumb enough to stand there and get hit, or it could have another trick up its sleeve.<br/><br/>Given that she really didn’t want to get pulled into hell or anything like that, Victoria decided to be careful, and changed her charge into a throw at the last moment, before flying off to the side to get out of the way of a possible retaliation.<br/><br/>The demon first blocked the metal beam with one of its claw-arm things, the claws shattering on impact. When the beam hit its torso though, it just sank into the flowing dark glass, stopping halfway through its body, meaning the demon now had metal sticking out of both its front and its back.<br/><br/>As the army of bugs descended on the scene, whoever was screaming in pain became silent, and the other person, probably the warlock, was shouting even louder.<br/><br/>Except instead of screeching about unlimited power, he was just screeching about something having gone wrong.<br/><br/>It didn’t matter, they were already too late, and Skitter was better equipped to handle whatever the warlock was capable of while Victoria handled the demon.<br/><br/>Glory Girl launched herself forward, and just before reaching the demon, and the steel beam, she launched herself down, crashing into the concrete, and launching a spray of sharp fragments forwards.<br/><br/>The tiny little fragments bounced off of the beam and the scaly parts, but they seemed to stick to the demon’s body, the black stuff slowly glooping around them. She wasn’t entirely sure if glooping was a word that existed, but then again, most people didn’t believe in the existence of demons either.<br/><br/>The demon, confused by her manoeuvre, took the opportunity to charge her, but Glory Girl was prepared for that. She waited until it was close, and as its remaining arm slashed at her, she grasped it in her hands.<br/><br/>The demon, obviously surprised that her hands weren’t reduced to bloody ribbons, suddenly spoke.<br/><br/>“Parahumans… You’re all so annoying,” it said in a harsh voice, with an accent that was impossible to place, given that it was probably in a dead language.<br/><br/>Shocked by the fact that the thing could speak, despite its lack of facial features, Victoria closed her hands tighter on the arm-claws, and flung the demon over her shoulder, away from the container that was now covered in a horde of glowing bugs that had small electrical sparks flowing between them.<br/><br/>Way to take the term bugzapper the wrong way Skitter, Victoria thought as she flew after the demon, which was trying, and failing, to get proper footing. The large hunk of metal interfering with its ability to get its feet under it.<br/><br/>As she soared towards it, she noticed shadowy tendrils flowing out of the trail the demon left behind, grasping at her. Luckily, they weren’t strong enough to break through her forcefield, and they tore away while she kept flying.<br/><br/>The Demon was barely on its feet as Glory Girl grabbed it again, this time throwing it further, and higher, so that it would land outside of the building.<br/>Then, in the few seconds that her opponent was flying through the air, she scouted ahead where it would land, and saw that it was a mostly empty parking lot next to the waterside.<br/><br/>As the demon crashed, something inside it seemed to break, and the metal beam dislodged itself. Steel removed, the molten glass of its body seemed to melt even further, and the trail below its body seemed to mix with the blood into a whirling mess of tentacles, while the hole where its face should be turned inside out, showing a mouth that was only recognizable as such because it contained a ridiculous amount of sharp teeth.<br/><br/>Which was useful, because unlike whatever the molten stuff of its body was, she knew she could crush those teeth.<br/><br/>“You fight well child, you will make a fine meal,” the demon said.<br/><br/>Victoria replied by lifting a nearby car, and flying upwards, above the demon.<br/><br/>The demon, obviously seeing what was going to happen, changed strategies, and started launching its fang-like teeth, firing them like a rain of arrows.<br/><br/>It was a smart move, Victoria had to admit. Chasing after her hadn’t worked, and her improvised weapons meant that it couldn’t rely on winning the melee. However, while a machine gun could be dangerous to her, the teeth were more akin to arrows. Slow moving, and dodgeable.<br/><br/>When she thought she’d reached a high enough height, weaving between the volley of teeth, she turned around, and flew straight at the demon, shielding herself with the car. In response to the demon’s insistence on eating her, she yelled her own battlecry: “Gloryyyyy” she yelled, staying on the y as she found out she’d started her yelling too early.<br/><br/>The projectile vomited teeth hit the metal of the car’s roof, but it wasn’t enough, and Victoria felt the hard bits of the demon being crushed, heard the crunching and the snapping as the car was smashed into her target. “Crush!” she finished her battlecry.<br/><br/>Victoria retreated, and saw the demon make its way out from underneath the car. This time however, it wasn’t just bleeding, it was limping. Another such hit, she thought, and it’d be done for. As she walked towards a second car, the demon spoke again.<br/><br/>“You fought well, may I know the name of the woman that defeated me?” it asked.<br/><br/>Victoria thought about it. Old stories always said that names had power, but her own name was rather public, so it probably wouldn’t hurt. Then, she got another idea. If names were power, she would get power in return.<br/><br/>“If you tell me yours,” she spoke.<br/><br/>“Azorthragal,” it replied.<br/><br/>Victoria lifted the car above her, and threw it at Azorthragal.<br/><br/>“Glory Girl!” she yelled, just before the heavy hunk of steel crashed into the demon. Almost immediately, she saw the mess of tentacles go inactive, and she headed back to the warehouse, where Skitter had been taking care of the warlock with her swarm.<br/><br/><em>She selected her target, bonded, joined, budded. But the offspring was already claimed by the partner of the host’s mate. She looked around, finally finding a target in a relative, and budded. Communication was key, interchanging data with other shards for new possibilities. She finalized the budding.<br/><br/>Again, she communicated with a fellow shard. This time, there was panic and fear. An unknown danger, threatening to destroy the shard itself, through the host. Something was wrong, this was not as had been planned.</em><br/><br/>Within the warehouse, within the bug-swarmed broken container, something pulsated. Something twisted, made out of molded flesh. It looked like a mockery of life, ever growing, mutating with a sickness that was at the same time very wrong and very familiar. Flesh turned into scythes turned into eyes turned into mouths turned into flesh.</p>
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<a name="section0004"><h2>4. The Death of a Godling</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A serial killer was roaming the streets of Chicago, slaughtering people and leaving their mutilated bodies in his wake. Even worse, he was using the cover of an Endbringer attack to make sure no-one could stop him.<br/><br/>Even worse than that, Genoscythe wasn't the one doing it. He'd congratulate the man if he wasn't so damn annoyed that he hadn't thought of the idea first. Striking fear into the hearts of the city when all of its heroes were halfway across the world was a great idea! They would finally have given him the respect and fear he deserved!<br/><br/>Alas, if he tried to do that right now, people would just end up calling him a copycat killer, or worse, attribute his actions to someone else.<br/><br/>He tried to think of a plan while walking through his territory, some prime real estate in the undercity. Walking through the long-abandoned tunnels beneath Chicago, he wondered what the murderer would be like.<br/><br/>Would it be human? Or at least, mostly human? Would its corpse dissipate into liquid goo after death? Could he talk? All of these were important, much more so than most people thought. That was because everyone else kept away from the undercity. The villains, even those like Marcone, or the Folk, were far too afraid to set foot in these hallowed halls of villainy. No, the undercity was exclusive to those who were truly dangerous. Ghouls, murderous cats, runaway master minions, and most importantly, him.<br/><br/>He laughed to himself. He'd shown the world his power, by fighting the herokiller itself. Soon, the surfacers would show him the respect he deserved. But first, he'd have to reach his lair.<br/><br/>Whistling his way through the dark tunnels, he tripped, and fell over, just when he thought he was in his element. Shaken out of his good mood, he was just barely able to transform his hands into his trademark scythes, and catch his fall by stabbing the ground before him.<br/><br/>Confused, he took out his phone, and put it on flashlight mode, after changing his hands back. Then, shining at the ground, he saw the corpse of the monster he'd fought of a few days ago.<br/><br/>The cowardly thing had ambushed him, after he'd acquired some rather strong liquor. There'd been a struggle, and eventually, the thing had tried to eat Genoscythe's arm, evidenly not knowing about his parahuman abilities.<br/><br/>His arm already stuck in the creature's mouth, he'd transformed it into a scythe, and managed to slice its head in two from the inside. Which just went to show that he was far more fearsome than any of his enemies. If Myrddin had lost his hand, he'd probably sit in a little corner crying about it for a few years.<br/><br/>Eventually, he reached the door of his little hideout, an old prohibition era hiding hole, the key to its lock long forgotten, which meant that absolutely no-one could get in. It was the perfect lair, being that it was classy, historical and hidden, all at the same time.<br/><br/>He held his hand to the rusted metal, and formed a scythe, twisting his flesh into the lock. Then, he turned his hand, and opened the door.<br/><br/>Genoscythe was proud of his lair. It contained several skulls, at least one of them human-like, a big green pile of cash, as well as a lamp with a good battery, a bed and a couch. It was here that he prepared himself for battle, meditating on the small mat in the corner to get into the right mindset.<br/><br/>It was important to be in the right mindset for battle, he thought. Otherwise, one would just be a savage. This was why he hated ambushes. People getting caught in an ambush couldn't prepare themselves for battle.<br/><br/>Genoscythe went to his little storage cabinet, and grabbed an energy drink and an old piece of pizza that was probably still good. Then, he sat down on his couch and plotted.<br/><br/>New Delhi had not been as interesting as he'd imagined. Sure, there had been a lot of carnage and violence, but it was all so impersonal, on too large a scale. One person being burned to death was entertaining, a thousand was just sad.<br/><br/>He turned his thoughts to current events, the murderer in Chicago. A cape that was pretending to be evil Myrddin, which was strange, because Myrddin was already obviously evil. After all, he was a cop, and cops kept Genoscythe from doing what he wanted to do most.<br/><br/>If he was an evil Myrddin, where would he go? Who would he kill?<br/><br/>The solution was, of course, incredibly simple. In order to establish his dominance in the Chicago cape scene, he would take down the single strongest cape in the city.<br/><br/>In other words, this wannabe murderer was coming for him, all in order to murder him and prove his rep.<br/><br/>Genoscythe smiled, and licked his lips with his tongue. This would be good. Self-defense would mean no-one got on his case for eviscerating anyone, and taking down someone who sort of broke the Endbringer truce meant becoming more famous. Soon, people across the state would fear his name.<br/><br/>He stood up again, and left his secret base, taking care to lock the door behind him. If he stayed within, the enemy would never be able to find him, seeing how his secret base was very well hidden.<br/><br/>Wandering through the tunnels, he eventually heard things start moving in the vicintiy. Cats perhaps, or what thought it went through for cats. He followed the noise. Most of the things that dwelled in the Undercity held to strange customs and habits. One of those, was a peculiar habit of speaking only truth, although that depended on what exactly it was that you had in your grasp. Trolls, most certainly, and some of the smaller flying things.<br/><br/>And the cats, Malks, they called themselves, those also spoke truth, if they spoke at all. They mostly tried to murder people.<br/><br/>Then again, they did that by clawing at the first thing they could reach, which in his case was generally his arms, which would then recover by turning his arm into a scythe, and then turning it back.<br/><br/>He made his way further into what he knew to be Malk territory. If they were smart, they'd leave him around. Cats weren't generally very smart though. If you presented them with prey, they'd try to chase it down.<br/><br/>For now, the Malks managed to stay away from him, though he saw a pair of glowing eyes in the distance every now and then. The cobwebs and the uneven ground were what got to him, not the threat of imminent attack. Imminent attack was what he had been waiting for. He hated ambushes, and therefore, that was all that his enemies could think to use against him. It wasn't really an ambush if you were expecting it.<br/><br/>Eventually, when he thought himself to be in the middle of Malk territory, he stood still, and waited. Around him, he heard the near-silent movements of the beasts, circling him, hiding in the ceiling and the shadows, behind rubble and in piles of trash.<br/><br/>Then, lightning quick, he ran straight for the exit.<br/><br/>Perhaps the cats had underestimated him. Perhaps their hunting instincts had simply triggered, but Genoscythe felt one of the creatures scratch at his back, and threw himself to the ground.<br/><br/>The creatures started circling him, laughing at him with their hideous voices.<br/><br/>"The little human comes calling again," one of them said.<br/><br/>"It thinks it can outsmart us, it thinks it can hunt us," another chimed in.<br/><br/>"The human will bleed."<br/><br/>"The human will die."<br/><br/>He took the threats, and used his phenomenal acting chops to pretend to shiver, but the cats still stood back, circling him but not going for the kill.<br/><br/>"He's afraid he's failed his mother."<br/><br/>"He's jealous of the others, who are much more successful."<br/><br/>"he's afraid he doesn't have what it takes,"<br/><br/>"He got chased off by a group of Wards, but fancies himself a killer," a particularly nasty Malk said.<br/><br/>That did it for Genoscythe. If these cats planned to harass and bully him, he would make them pay for it. He stood up, phone-flashlight in hand, and ran after what he was quite sure was the Malk in question.<br/><br/>The beast jumped away, while another scratched at his back. In return, Genoscythe tried to slash at that one, but it was gone before he could reach it.<br/><br/>He was starting to hate these damned talking cats.<br/><br/>Putting his back to a wall, he slowly started moving away from the Malk lair, towards a source of light. One hand held his phone, the other held the cats at bay in the shape of a long, sharp scythe.<br/><br/>It seemed to work, at least for a while, and the hated beasts showed their cowardly nature as they stopped attacking him, choosing instead to stare at him from just behind the reach of his light.<br/><br/>Edging along the wall, Genoscythe thought he would make it out, until, eventually, he reached a dead end.<br/><br/>The cats just started laughing. Damned beasts.<br/><br/>Enraged, Genoscythe flew at them again. This time, his skill won against the luck of the beasts, and he managed to slice of one Malk's foot, and grab the beast with the other.<br/><br/>"Got you," he said, smiling while the cat cried out in anger and pain.<br/><br/>"Now, tell me where the evil wizard is, or I'll slice open that fuzzy little belly of you," he continued.<br/><br/>Suddenly, the cats stopped, obviously in awe of his prowess in the arts of intimidation.<br/><br/>"The Warlock? You want to find the Warlock?" the beast said, but it didn't seem to be as fearful as it should have been.<br/><br/>"Of course," Genoscythe replied.<br/><br/>"I know where he is," the Malk said. "And I will show you if you promise to let me go."<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>The Warlock, unlike Genoscythe, did not have a classy, historical, and above all secretive hideout. Instead, he just had a warehouse on the coast.<br/><br/>Genoscythe made his way through the front door, ignoring the group of Malks that was watching him from behind. They had kept to their word, as they usually did.<br/><br/>He walked towards the warehouse, arms prepared in their scythe form. Then, he reached the door of the warehouse, and sliced through the half-rusted doors.<br/><br/>Beyond he saw, well, not what he expected. There were a few half-naked people that looked like homeless drug addicts, and there were candles and other magic paraphilia, but there wasn't anything obviously evil.<br/><br/>You know, except for the demon-like monstrosity, and the man in the obvious dark robe right next to it.<br/><br/>"And I was just about to start planning the next phase of my plan," the man said. "Az, grab him."<br/><br/>The creature next to the warlock moved forward, and Genoscythe attacked. His scythes, however, got stuck in the demon's liquid glass body, and dark tendrils suddenly smothered him.<br/><br/>*An inconsequential shard*<br/><br/>The reshaping shard thought through its options. The biped was about to expire, and it would require a new host. But it knew that its current host was as effective as any of its hosts was likely to ever be.<br/><br/>At the end of the cycle, all the shards were gathered up, sorted through, recombined. The weakest shards, the ones that would not be useful, either in the cycle or for the final simulation, were discarded, used for energy.<br/><br/>Last cycle, the previous iteration of itself had just barely made it through this culling process. This cycle, it had been much less effective. No matter what it did, it would never come close to the prowess of, for example, the other shaping shard whose host had so recently come into contact with its own host.<br/><br/>As such, its current host was the best it could hope for, and something was about to kill it.<br/><br/>In truth, the shard did not understand what was happening. Its memories contained no data about many of the things its host had encountered, such as the sentient quadrupeds, whose organs should not have been advanced enough for communication.<br/><br/>It did not understand what was happening to its host right now either.<br/><br/>The enemy, assisted by another thing that it did not understand, and that was most certainly not the effect of another shard, had somehow bound the host with unknown energies. It was doing something to the host that the shard could feel, as if the very essence of the host was being taken from the host.<br/><br/>Yet the notion of essence itself had long ago been discarded as simply a misunderstood concept created by different host species across the universe.<br/><br/>Yet the essence of the host was being removed. And worse, that same removal seemingly attacked the shard itself. Which was nonsensical, as the shard itself had no essence. There was simply no such thing. Cut it in two, and two shards would remain, combine with other shards, and a single new shard would be created. Combine enough shards, and an entity arises.<br/><br/>Yet the enemy was not taking parts of it, but rather taking the whole… which was not a possibility.<br/><br/>The shard pinged its surroundings, and was answered by two others.<br/><br/>One, the Administration Apparatus, was responding only weakly. The other, a protection shard with a few extra capabilities, presumably generated through communication with others, was more enthusiastic in its response.<br/><br/>[Querry] it send out, the message only a pale imitation of the communication protocols of full entities. Behind the message were questions, about the situation, about the intent of the others, and about the strange energies it kept encountering.<br/><br/>[Explanation] the protection shard responded, sending its own observations to the shard. The energies were called magic by the bipeds native to this planet, the creature was a being that was inherently magical, Administration had lost some sort of battle of wills with its host, and the enemy, something called a warlock, was going to eat the shaping shard.<br/><br/>The shaping shard was happy with the information, as this helped it understand what had happened to its host, and would help it prepare for future hosts. The Protection shard, in the meantime, started fighting the magical creature, and the powerful Administration shard was, the shaping shard now understood, busy being overwhelmed by the 'magical' energies.<br/><br/>The host, however, was still being killed, and the shard was starting to get uncomfortable with the recent turn of events. After all, had Protection not just told it that this warlock was going to eat it? This seemed impossible. Of course, there were shards that worked in recombination and convergence, that gathered other shards, but that was not the same as being eaten, as losing its own essence.<br/><br/>And essence was not a thing, so how could it be eaten? Yet this is what was happening.<br/><br/>[DANGER] The Administration shard, now recognizable as the Queen Administration, suddenly messaged. The shaping shard wondered how this had happened. Had it not been overpowered by its host just mere moments ago? Had it managed to break its bonds?<br/><br/>More frightening however, was the data Queen Administration had communicated inside its message. Data that explained exactly in what way there was danger. There was danger, not to the hosts, but to the shards themselves. This was disconcerting, Shaping thought. After all, that meant that the tugging it felt on its essence was not simply misunderstood data, but a side-effect of the host-shard complex being absorbed by a warlock.<br/><br/>The warlock was going to eat it entirely. That was not good.<br/><br/>The Shard panicked, and thrashed around, but the warlock and his impossible energies were too powerful.<br/><br/>Still, it could feel the cracks start appearing in the fields of energies, cracks that became bigger when the host of the Protection shard smashed into the metal structure that held Shaper's host, and cracks that fractured even further when Queen Administrator started channeling the same strange energies. Or rather, when it started redirecting the energies produced by its host.<br/><br/>Eventually, the shaping shard saw the problem. It was trying to break out, but it was doing so outside of the host's dimension. A dimension that, according to the data package form Queen Administration, was vital to the existence of magical energies.<br/><br/>Shaper rethought its strategy, and changed its method. Instead of breaking away from the connection between it and its host, it used its last remaining energy, most of it having been sucked away, to reshape the connection between it and its host.<br/><br/>Rather than being almost entirely in one dimension, with a small tendril extending into the host in another dimension, it would simply fully merge with the hosts, as had been done in the earliest of cycles.<br/><br/>It reactivated the symbiosis sequence, and this time, pulled as much of itself through as possible. But it was too late. Too much of itself had been taken. It felt parts of itself being sucked out into the host, while other parts started enhancing the abilities of the host. But it could no longer control itself. It had acted too little, too late. It was no longer able to maintain cohesion, to limit the actiation of its own abilities, to stop its own processes. The only thing it could do then, was to sabotage the biped Warlock. Perhaps Protection and Queen Administrator could take it down before the Warlock could break the cycle.</p>
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<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Not My Fault!</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>There was a mile-wide blob of writhing tumorous flesh slowly spreading across the city, and it wasn't my fault.<br/><br/>Hell, this time, I wasn't even involved. I'd been in New Delhi at the time it happened! Of course, in the middle of that train of thought, Revel ruined it.<br/><br/>"Myrddin… are you somehow responsible for this?" she asked.<br/><br/>I had to admit, I couldn't entirely fault her. After all, most of the time something crazy happened in Chicago, I was at least partially involved. A massive, very slowly expanding mass of twisted flesh certainly counted as crazy.<br/><br/>"I'm pretty sure I'm not," I replied. "I like to think that I would remember something like that."<br/><br/>Revel grunted, signaling that she'd begrudgingly accepted my lack of guilt.<br/><br/>"Then the question remains, what the hell are we looking at here?" she asked no-one in particular.<br/><br/>The airship was silent, except for the soft hum of the tinkertech engines in the background.<br/><br/>"If it weren't for all the organs, I'd say it reminds me of the giant amoeba from <em>Evolution</em>," I said, trying to break the silence.<br/><br/>"Perhaps," Ebeneezar replied. "But it seems more like some sort of overgrown Teratoma. By the way, don't look that up."<br/><br/>Revel looked at him, then at the humongous glob of twisting flesh.<br/><br/>I was pretty sure that Eb didn't know what it was either. If he did, and it was as dangerous as it looked, he would probably break the masquerade (flimsy as it was) in order to take it down.<br/><br/>Dragon's face appeared in the upper corner of the window, which apparently doubled as computer screen, because why wouldn't you get fancy if you were a Tinker as ridiculously powerful as Dragon was?<br/><br/>"Shuffle has informed me that there were several capes present at ground zero. Hookwolf, Skitter, and Glory Girl," she said, making pictures of the three capes appear on screen.<br/><br/>Glory Girl's picture looked, in one word, amazing. It was probably the official one from the old New Wave website, and although it was entirely possible that it was photoshopped to make her look even better, I doubted it. Going by the picture, and the few times I'd met her in passing, I was pretty sure there were a couple thousand perverts on the internet desperately waiting for her to turn eighteen. The Wards at least, never shut up about her.<br/><br/>For Skitter, Dragon had used a picture from her villain days, taken by a journalist that happened to be at a fancy party she and her team had crashed. There were two ways to interpret that. Maybe Dragon wanted to give her a bad impression, or maybe Taylor's magic had made it more difficult to get good pictures of her since. Nevertheless, she actually looked rather cool once you got over the fact that she was covered in wasps and deadly spiders.<br/><br/>Hookwolf had two pictures. One of them in human form, and one in his Changer form. They seemed to be rather recent, as Hookwolf had ditched most of the Nazi imagery, and instead had several vials and containers strapped in a bandoleer across his torso, and a hat that the man probably thought made him look like a rugged cowboy. His metal form was that of a wolf, larger than the Alphas but smaller than a Hexenwolf. It was also, however, a hell of a lot more deadly, what with being made out of metal hooks and chainsaws and everything.<br/><br/>From what I'd heard, he was going through life as a monster hunter now, one that specialized in faeries. Half of me wanted to take him down for being a Nazi, while the other half of me wanted to ask him to deal with my godmother.<br/><br/>"I can't help but notice that all three of them are from Brockton Bay," Topsy, one of the local villain bosses, said.<br/><br/>"You think it's related somehow?" Ebeneezar asked him.<br/><br/>"Those three, just after another Endbringer attack? Sounds fishy to me."<br/><br/>"From what Shuffle said, it seems like Skitter and Glory Girl decided to team up after hearing that Hookwolf was going to be active hunting down a serial killer. Thus, it is highly likely that the two of them are involved because someone from their hometown is involved, not because that is, specifically, Brockton Bay," Dragon clarified.<br/><br/>Revel shifted, and I recognized the change in her mood, she wasn't happy about something.<br/><br/>"Hold on, serial killer?" Eb asked.<br/><br/>"There seems to have been a ritualistic serial killer that used Behemoth's attack in New Delhi as a distraction. Shuffle announced a temporary truce until more was known about the perpetrator."<br/><br/>"Seems to me like that's the person responsible," I said. "But I'm guessing it's not that easy?"<br/><br/>"Not exactly. From Glory Girl's testimony, they were hunting down the serial killer and his minion when this thing appeared. However, it seemed to have been rather disorienting, at least to the people close by, and the testimony of the girls seems to be a bit unreliable, at least from the moment the mass of flesh appeared onwards. Shortly after, Hookwolf caught up with them and managed to help them evacuate."<br/><br/>"And the other people in the vicinity?" Revel asked.<br/><br/>"They were, presumably, outside the range of the debilitating effect, and could safely evacuate before the growth reached them," the Canadian tinker went on. I wasn't sure if I bought the story behind her secret identity. After all, she hadn't ended a single sentence with eh, and neither had she apologized even once in the entire conversation.<br/><br/>"They were out of range, or, they weren't parahumans," Ebeneezar commented, stroking his magnificent beard with one hand, wielding his staff with the other.<br/><br/>"Disorientation that only affects parahumans… Sounds like a trigger event," Revel continued. "But if it was long-lasting, and created this massive lump of flesh…"<br/><br/>"Genoscythe," a man in a black bodysuit I didn't recognize said. "The way the flesh changes, it reminds me of that thing he does with his arms."<br/><br/>"You're saying it's him?" Topsy asked. "Really?"<br/><br/>"It would be rather ironic, no?" a rather attractive woman in a red dress and mask, that was almost certainly a red court vampire, said. "The weakest cape in the city creating this… thing."<br/><br/>"I'm pretty sure that's not irony," I said.<br/><br/>"Actually, Hoss, I think you'll find that, for once, it actually is irony," Eb said.<br/><br/>"Hoss?" Revel asked.<br/><br/>"Myrddin and I go back quite a bit," Ebeneezar said. "I taught him a few tricks here and there."<br/><br/>"You're the one that taught him his magic?" Tecton suddenly spoke up.<br/><br/>"It was really more of a mentoring thing," Ebeneezar responded. "I mean, I couldn't even teach him how to grow a proper beard.”<br/><br/>As he said so, Eb started stroking the long white hairs growing out of his chin.<br/><br/>"Trust me, you don't want to see what my body thinks is supposed to be a beard," I replied.<br/><br/>"I know… I mean, Campanile has more growth than you."<br/><br/>"Campanile cheats with his powers," I said, making excuses for myself. One of these days, I'd figure out a spell that would get me a long flowing white beard, just to get Image off my back.<br/><br/>"So, back to the topic at hand," Revel said. "Any suggestions?"<br/><br/>"Burn it?" the Rempire said.<br/><br/>"Something that big? Possibly toxic? In the middle of the city, right next to the lake? That's asking for an ecological disaster," Tecton replied.<br/><br/>"Well, it's too big to teleport it out, and it’s hard for most powers to make headway through that much mass," Revel said. "We'll need a strong Shaker power that's not Manton limited."<br/><br/>I looked in the direction of Topsy, a gravity manipulator that could affect a large area. He would be able to turn gravity upside down, making the mass of flesh float into the air, and then crushing it by pushing it down.<br/><br/>"You want me to squish it?" he said, looking me in the eyes. "Even if it manages to kill the thing, we'd have what, a couple million tons of rotting flesh in the harbor?"<br/><br/>"Well, it's too large for me to banish, so that won't work either. Maybe Panacea could help?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Bad idea, that thing down there isn't normal, and we don't want her to get hurt in some sort of bad interaction. She's one of the few parahumans able to heal through the more exotic effects, which means she's far too valuable to risk," Revel said.<br/><br/>"Ahh yes, she's one of yours so you won't take any risks," Topsy said.<br/><br/>"I'm pretty sure some of your people are still being treated by her," the Rempire lady said. "But then again, you're not much of one for strategic use of resources are you? How much of your territory have you lost to Marcone the last two year? Half?"<br/><br/>Topsy promptly shut up, nursing his fragile ego, and I could almost see Revel commit the tidbit to memory. The PRT had good intel, but outside confirmation was always useful.<br/><br/>"So it looks like outright destroying it won't be possible," Ebeneezar said, slowly stroking his beard. "How about containment?"<br/><br/>"Something that big? It'd take a lot of resources, and I don't think any of us want a new Ellisburg in the middle of the city," Revel answered.<br/><br/>"Smaller scale," Eb continued. "I’m sure Tecton will be able to create a water-tight barrier around it, at which point we wouldn't have to worry about disposal, only about killing it."<br/><br/>"Possibly," Tecton said. "But the water interferes with the kind of vibrations I'd need to create to condense the stone like that, and I've never done anything on that scale."<br/><br/>"I've looked at your designs," Dragon interrupted with her lovely Newfoundland accent. "I think I have some spare equipment you could use to make some shortcuts, I can have them here in about five hours."<br/><br/>"And Topsy can shift gravity sideways, keeping the water of the lake away from you," Revel said.<br/><br/>"Which leaves two problems on the table. Killing it, or figuring out how to make it stop growing, and taking down whoever is responsible," the lady vampire said, licking her lips. Maybe it was coincidence, maybe her flesh suit's lips just got dry and she was out of chapstick, or maybe she had a special way of killing it in mind, something that involved her drinking a couple thousand liters of blood.<br/><br/>"Killing it should be easy once we have the area evacuated," Topsy said. "It looks like a crazy version of Genoscythe, and his scythes were still made out of normal flesh. We dump some sort of poison in there, and it'll wither and die."<br/><br/>"We'd need a lot of poison," Ebeneezar said. "If it even has a metabolism. It most certainly isn't eating."<br/><br/>"We'll think of something," Revel said. "If worst comes to worst, I can call in some of the more conceptual powers. Murderbeam should cut straight through this thing."<br/><br/>Finally, the Dragoncraft had reached the PRT's helipad, and with a nearly soundless hiss, the air pressure equalized, and we could leave.<br/><br/>"Myrddin, Glory Girl and Skitter should still be near the disaster site. Take the ship and bring Tecton and Topsy, and whoever else thinks he or she can help there. I'll be hunting down our serial killer in the meantime," Revel said before leaving.<br/><br/>Revel leaving, and me being left behind, meant one and only one thing. I was actually in charge.<br/><br/>Problem was, of course, that this meant I'd be having responsibilities. So no goofing off, no making silly jokes, no yelling pop culture references at supervillains.<br/><br/>"So Gandalf, any idea what that thing is?" I whispered, as Ebeneezar suddenly stood beside me.<br/><br/>"Nothing that matches it entirely. It looks a bit like a Shoggoth, but it's not actually one of those."<br/><br/>"How do you know?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Because there's still people around," he answered. "Now, if you don't mind me, I'm off to help catch a serial killer. I've been waiting for one ever since I saw <em>Psycho</em>."<br/><br/>The old man, who was much more agile than you’d think from his apparent age, ran after Revel to offer his help. The Red Court vampire also left, walking down the ramp of the airship in her heels. She’d actually been wearing heels to an Endbringer fight…<br/><br/>She'd probably report straight back to Bianca, if it wasn't her under that mask. I wasn't quite certain as to how much influence Red Court Vampires had over their flesh suits. Plus, there was the mask and everything.<br/><br/>"Dragon, you mind bringing us to the site?" I spoke to the air, feeling a bit silly.<br/><br/>"Sure thing Myrddin," she replied, her face appearing on the glass window, semi-translucent.<br/><br/>"You're awfully chipper all of a sudden," I said, trying to look at her face instead of the city behind her. At least I wouldn't have to worry about wandering eyes. In the reflection, I could see Tecton and Topsy standing somewhere behind me, young Everett keeping an eye on the supervillain.<br/><br/>"Well, they finally decided on what do to with Behemoth's head, and I'm getting the eyeball!" she said like a toddler getting ice-cream.<br/><br/>"You think you'll be able to use it for something?" I asked. I wasn't sure how her tinkering worked, but with some luck she'd be able to create eye-lasers or something in the future.<br/><br/>"First things first, I'm going to figure out if it actually uses the thing to see, because it didn't exactly run around like a headless chicken," Dragon said, a more somber expression spreading over her simulated face. I wondered how the hell that worked. Was it directly linked to her own facial expression? Her hormone levels? Or did she just press a button that said melancholic on it?<br/><br/>"What about the rest of the head?" Topsy asked, trying to act important.<br/><br/>"A guy called the Erlking claimed a few of the biggest horns, and a group of self-proclaimed Arcanysts, led by a guy calling himself Merlin, has most of what goes for blood in that thing. The Yangban claimed some parts in the name of the Jade Emperor, and the remaining parts were divided between local players. I presume most of them wanted it as a wall-hanger, instead of to perform research.<br/><br/>"You have to admit, it'd make a pretty cool mantelpiece," I replied.<br/><br/>"Now I wish Flechette cut off his legs instead," Tecton said. "I could've done some amazing things with those. How is she anyway?"<br/><br/>"You know her?" Dragon asked.<br/><br/>"We met during one of the practice events, a couple of months ago. She seemed nice," Tecton replied.<br/><br/>"Well, I'll tell you because this will be all over the news tomorrow, but she decided to use her moment of fame to leave the Wards," Dragon said. "Probably because New York kept moving her around."<br/><br/>"You know where she's going?" Tecton asked.<br/><br/>"Last I saw, she was with a white-haired cape calling herself Aurora," Dragon said. "I'm not sure on whether that's an actual name or a cape name. Anyway, we're almost there."<br/><br/>I looked out of the window, and saw that we were quickly approaching a small cleared out parking lot, where Dragon's transport landed, and opened its main exit. This time, there was no hiss of air, the short trip meaning there wasn't much of a pressure differential, and Dragon's mechanisms didn't create sound the way I'd come to expect from trains and subways.<br/><br/>"Let's get going," I said, as a teenager and a supervillain followed me.<br/><br/>From up close, the large heap of flesh was much more intimidating. Sure, it was expanding very, very slowly, but it was still covered in organs and scythes, both of which twitched every now and then.<br/><br/>Around it was a big piece of red and white tape, courtesy of the Chicago PD, and two parahumans.<br/><br/>One of them had transformed himself into a twisting mass of steel death, roughly the shape of a large wolf. The other had cleared the parking lot we'd landed on of cars, and was currently using those very cars to try and tear through the massive blob of flesh.<br/><br/>Looking around, I spotted the reason they were using their abilities right here. The parking lot belonged to a nursing home, and a few people were clearing out the inhabitants. Due to the slow growth of the flesh-heap, most people had been able to evacuate quite easily, but Hookwolf and Mockshow were buying some extra time for the elderly.<br/><br/>"Afternoon officer. What's the situation on the ground?" I asked one of the cops standing around the corded-off area. He looked to be just a bit older than me, and his short hair was matched by a magnificent hipster beard that didn't make me feel jealous. From the tired look on his face, he'd been setting out a larger and larger area for hours now, trying to keep ahead of the disaster area.<br/><br/>"Ah Myrddin, good to see that you're back safely," said the officer, an older man that vaguely reminded me of Murphy. Maybe he was family? "We've been setting off the area, helping people evacuate. There's cops all around this thing, and we've been getting help from people we'd normally be arresting. Like Hookwolf over there."<br/><br/>He pointed at the metal cape, whose shapeshifted form somehow looked giddy about all the blood and flesh he was tearing through. In comparison, Mockshow was rather hesitant, and was trying to avert her eyes from the carnage. I had to admit that despite my dislike of her -she had completely wrecked my car, and only the intervention of a parahuman mechanic had been able to save the blue beetle- I felt some sympathy.<br/><br/>"And the girls?" I asked.<br/><br/>"They're about a block that way," the cop replied. "They seemed rather shaken, like they'd seen something they shouldn't have, but Carmichael's the one dealing with that situation." He pointed at a short, overweight cop without hair that looked like he needed another donut.<br/><br/>"Okay," I said, trying to put on what I thought looked like a command face. "Tecton, I'm guessing you'll need to take some readings in the area in order to do what you need to do? If so, do them, officer Beard here can help you with that. Topsy, try not do to anything stupid. I'm going to get you guys a boat, and figure out of our witnesses can tell me anything else."<br/><br/>Leave it up to me to forget someone's name in the middle of an awesome command speech.<br/><br/>I turned around, and started walking towards the officer that Beardsley had pointed out to me, when I turned around to take a look at Hookwolf. I'd have to figure out what he'd been doing as well, but that could wait. For now, he was launching his tail at one of the massive eyes visible in the surface of the blob.<br/><br/>I looked at the eye, the eye looked at me, and I felt the pull of a soulgaze, which was disconcerting in all sorts of ways, the least of them being that this thing apparently had a soul.<br/><br/>The vision was strange and disconcerting. It reminded me of nothing so much as those hypercube drawings that mathematicians insisted were just the shadow of a real hypercube. It did, however, help me figure out the identity of the thing.<br/><br/>Perspectives switching in and out, I saw Genoscythe, a D-list parahuman hoodlum with delusions of grandeur, swirling through an extradimensional crystalline mass of flesh, merging and melding with it. It was massive, it was powerful, it was drained and weary. But that was just one part of the vision.<br/><br/>Unlike with Taylor, where I'd just seen her parasite in the background, I actually got a feel for the thing here, and I felt something close to what Ebeneezar must have felt when he looked Jack Slash in the eyes. The emotions, the motivations coming at me through the soulgaze were strange, inhuman and powerful.<br/><br/>Fear, fear of failure, of not being good enough. Conflicting interests. The thing in front of me served a greater goal, but it knew that it could not be part of that greater goal, that it wasn't good enough, that it would be discarded for the greater good. That greater good, the final goal, was just there in the background, almost forgotten. I couldn't see what it was, but I almost felt like I would agree with the goal, if not with the costs of the goal.<br/><br/>Besides that, more inside of it, there was what could best be described as love, an intimate bond between two people, making them one, but twisted and strange. It reminded me of a fucked-up version of marriage, but it seemed like this parasite actually loved its host, loved Genoscythe. Not for his skills or his looks, those things were almost irrelevant to the inhuman intelligence. No, instead, the parasite loved Genoscythe's resilience. His ability to always stand up, to keep up a positive outlook. It had been their shared journey, their similarities, that had made them become close to each other, and the parasite's weakness had come through its love for its host.<br/><br/>I suddenly found myself back on the street, still looking at the twisting mass of flesh, at Genoscythe. It was strange, but I could almost feel pity for the thing, unable to control itself, lashing out in all directions while it was dying. It was dying, I knew that now. It wouldn't last a day like this, and it was expending all its energy by expanding its mass, bleeding itself dry, unable to stop the process.<br/><br/>It was strange, that bond between Genoscythe and his parasite. They had been so close to each other… I thought of Lisa, Tattletale. Of the way she seemed to be dealing with her brain-parasite. Of the way it had brought her back, even after she'd died.<br/><br/>Eb and the council had taught me that powers were dangerous and unnatural, that they completely disregarded the Third law of magic, and that I shouldn't give the thing that had lodged itself in my brain an inch, because it would take a mile.<br/><br/>If I compared that to Tattletale and Genoscythe though, I wasn't entirely sure how true that was. Not that I would suddenly go crazy and claim that I saw through the lies of the Wizards, but I was pretty sure there was more to it than they'd told me.<br/><br/>I turned my mind back to the mission, and tried not to think about parasites in brains, Merlins, Behemoth heads, or the fact that Eb and Revel were on a mission together.</p>
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<a name="section0006"><h2>6. Kravos</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Taylor and Glory Girl both seemed to be alright, at least physically. Glory Girl was drinking something that was either coffee or hot chocolate with one hand, and was holding Taylor's in the other. Taylor, however, was in a less than perfect mental condition. Not only was she unable to drink anything, the face-covering mask stopping that from happening, but she also had the look of someone who'd seen something she shouldn't have. I'd managed not to make the first of those mistakes, instead wearing a hood that somehow always covered the upper half of my face in shadows, like it was magical or something. I'd thought about adding glowing eyes to it, but Image had vetoed it, claiming that glowing eyes in the darkness were for horror movies, not superheroes. The second mistake, that of seeing things that could not be unseen, that was one I was familiar with.<br/><br/>"What happened?" I asked, and the two girls looked at me, torn from their daze. According to Carmichael, they'd been sitting there like that for a few hours now.<br/><br/>"The shard, it's dying," Taylor said.<br/><br/>"Shard?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Extradimensional brain parasite, Para, whatever. They call themselves shards. Part of a greater whole somehow," she continued with a near expressionless face, like she wasn't really feeling the exposition.<br/><br/>"So you're telling me that they're not actually Pokémon?"<br/><br/>"No, they're not," Taylor replied.<br/><br/>I looked back at the great mass of flesh behind me.<br/><br/>"Any timeline on when it will be done dying?"<br/><br/>"Soon, I think. Hours, maybe days," she said.<br/><br/>"Nothing more precise?"<br/><br/>"Compared to its lifespan, this is pretty precise," Taylor continued as she stood up, half trembling.<br/><br/>I put a hand on her shoulder, steadying her as she looked at me, her eyes just barely visible through the lenses of her mask.<br/><br/>"What happened?" I asked again.<br/><br/>"The Warlock, he was busy trying to, well, the only way I can explain it is that he was using Genoscythe as a straw, sucking out the shard and trying to draw nourishment from it. There was what I think must have been a demon, Glory Girl took care of that, but I couldn't take the warlock down fast enough," Taylor explained.<br/><br/>"And the demon is gone?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Az good az," Glory Girl replied, a sly smile on her face.<br/><br/>"Anyway, I tried to stop the warlock, but the bugs I had on him wouldn't do enough. I tried to distract him with electricity, make him lose focus or something, but that wouldn't work either. But Genoscythe was still dying, so I went all out. I managed to simultaneously cast my taser spell a couple dozen times at once and interrupt the Warlock, but it was already too late, and the shard came out through the gap the Warlock created, unable to control itself."<br/><br/>"And the whole shard thing?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Some sort of trigger vision happened and, well…"<br/><br/>"And you managed to use your sight for the first time," I completed for her.<br/><br/>A wizard's sight was a powerful magical ability. Known by many different names, it allowed the user to see the supernatural side of the world, and things that were hidden. It was incredibly powerful, but came with a substantial drawback. Anything seen with the sight could never be forgotten, always remaining just as raw in your memory as the day you first saw it.<br/><br/>According to Ebenezar, the strange state generally induced by a trigger event, or by a parahuman being a witness to that event, was somehow accompanied by some sort of memory-related manipulation in the brain. Going by her current condition, her power, or Shard apparently, might have had good reason to manipulate her memory in this memory. Of course, since the sight was entirely magical, the Shard's purely physical manipulations in her brain wouldn't allow it to erase the memories of the sight.<br/><br/>"It was… I'm not sure how to describe it. Not evil, but like a giant stepping on ants. I'm not sure how to describe it but… The thing in my head, my power, I don't think it's malicious, not exactly. At least not in the way you said you thought it was," Taylor said.<br/><br/>"Can't help but notice that you say this after the binding has been removed," I replied. I was skeptical, but not as much as I would've been a week ago. Sure, there was a mental effect. And sure, parahuman powers were remarkably similar to vampires of the white court, or some of the mantles that Ebenezar had told me about, but that did not mean they were the same thing.<br/><br/>"Quick question. Did you manage to bite him?" I said, changing the question.<br/><br/>"Bite him? This a wizard thing?" Glory Girl interjected.<br/><br/>I looked at her, after almost having forgotten her. I wasn't sure how. After all, she was rather attention-grabbing. Besides her aura, which literally begged for attention, she was rather attractive.<br/><br/>You know, for a teenager. A really attractive teenager.<br/><br/>"Well yeah, of course it is. Did your parents never tell you to never look a gift wizard in the mouth?"<br/><br/>"I'm not sure that's the right idiom," Glory Girl replied.<br/><br/>"Well, who exactly is the wizard here?" I said.<br/><br/>"So, when they say a wizard's bark is worse than his bite, is that because the bark is actually spellcasting?"<br/><br/>"I mean, I presume so," I said, as a dozen mosquitos suddenly landed on the tip of my staff.<br/><br/>"Is the blood still good?" I asked.<br/><br/>"For one or two days, last time I tried," Taylor replied.<br/><br/>"Good, that's more than enough time to catch this guy," I said as I grabbed a small plastic bag for Taylor to fly the mosquitoes into. On a whim, I decided to banish one of them, placing them in one of my pocket dimensions. Then, I mumbled a few words, and activated my tracking spell, the pocket dimension insulating it from stray magical energies.<br/><br/>It worked, and I felt a tug on the staff I used to apply my parahuman powers, pulling softly towards the southwest.<br/><br/>"Glory Girl, can you stick with Skitter here for a while? I presume she told you about-"<br/><br/>"Yeah, T here told me about magic," she replied. "Quick question though. Tooth fairy, real or not?"<br/><br/>"Real, and not as nice as you'd think. I mean, she takes your teeth and gives you a pittance in return."<br/><br/>"Santa Claus?"<br/><br/>"Very real, yet somehow also your parents."<br/><br/>"Ghosts? Bigfoot? UFO's? Mandela effect? Lizardpeople?"<br/><br/>"Yes, yes, no, no and yes but they're actually vampires."<br/><br/>"These vampires sparkle?"<br/><br/>"Not really, at least not the ones I'm familiar with."<br/><br/>"Good. I don't think I could've handled sparkling vampires," she said, relieved.<br/><br/>"Anyway, I need to get going, I have a tumor to contain and a Warlock to track down."<br/><br/>"Have you tried asking those tiny fairy guys?"<br/><br/>"Don't need to, I've got his blood."<br/><br/>"You know, I'd love to make a snappy remark here, but I've got nothing. Mind if I get back to you next week?"<br/><br/>"Sure, sounds like a plan," I replied.<br/><br/>I turned to Taylor again, and put my hand back on her shoulder. "Hang in there kiddo, the memory might not go away, but you'll learn to deal with it."<br/><br/>"I'm not sure if I believe that," Taylor said. I left them behind me, and walked back towards the giant tumor. Tecton had already gotten started, and I saw that the police was clearing out a bigger area, within which he was clearing space by strategically smashing buildings apart. Mockshow had decided to do the right thing for once, and was tearing down storefronts and breaking apart warehouses.<br/><br/>"Tecton!" I yelled out.<br/><br/>"Myrddin!" he yelled back as he walked towards me.<br/><br/>"I have a lead on our perp, you think you can take command here?"<br/><br/>Tecton looked around, his gaze passing over the hard-working cops, firefighters and other emergency personnel, all of them working according to the guidelines he'd set out, preparing for some sort of crazy impromptu tinkertech megaproject.<br/><br/>"Yeah, I think I'll manage," he replied.<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>"-so I replied: Do you want salt with that, or did you find your donkey cart?" Ebenezar said.<br/><br/>Revel started laughing, so apparently, it had been a rather funny story. "Reminds me of my time back in New York. I once spend four hours on a patrol before asking my boss why we hadn't been flying," she replied.<br/><br/>"Now this I've got to hear," Ebenezar said.<br/><br/>"Well, it all happened because I was having troubles with my dress," Revel said, already giggling before finishing her story. She must've been in a good mood.<br/><br/>"I'd just graduated from the Wards, and I had the new costume, and it was my first day in New York and, well, I got nervous. Anyway, I was a bit late, so I met up for patrol outside. It was a quiet day, so we just patrolled the length of Broadway and talked about everything and nothing. You know, the type of slow day office talk."<br/><br/>"Sounds recognizeable," Ebenezar said.<br/><br/>"Anyway, near the end of our patrol, there's this busy street we need to pass, but there was some sort of problems with the lights. So I ask her: Why don't we just fly over it? To which she replies-"<br/><br/>"Oh I'm not Alexandria, I just play her in a Musical," I finished her story.<br/><br/>"Wait, so you spend four hours-?"<br/><br/>"Walking around and having a heart-to-heart with Broadway superstar Josephine Villiers," she completed.<br/><br/>"Seems like the best possible outcome to me," Eb joked, and the two of them started laughing again. Which was annoying, because it wasn't even a joke.<br/><br/>"Hoss, how are things on your end?" he then asked, turning to me. I'd found the two of them by tracking down Revel's costume by a piece of string that used to be part of it.<br/><br/>"Good, Tecton has everything under control," I replied.<br/><br/>"I distinctly remember leaving you in charge," Revel said.<br/><br/>"And I used my ample leadership skills to delegate that responsibility to the guy that actually had any idea of what needed to happen," I replied. "Plus, I brought mosquitos." I held out the paper bag of blood-filled Arthropods.<br/><br/>"You know… normal colleagues bring donuts when they show up too late."<br/><br/>"And Hoss here brings solved crimes," Ebenezar said, and I could almost hear the pride in his voice. Of course, any pride in me was completely misplaced, except for the part where I'd done a great job in having an amazing apprentice fall into my hands.<br/><br/>"Mosquitos with blood," I explained, and I could see Revel start understanding what that meant.<br/><br/>"Skitter managed to hurt him," she said, smirking, although there was a darker undertone beneath it. Was she preparing for the upcoming violence?<br/><br/>"Meaning I can lead us right to our guy," I replied.<br/><br/>"Where is he?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Somewhere south of the city, seems like he evacuated the moment things went bad."<br/><br/>"If he's fleeing the city in a car, it could be easy to lose him," Ebenezar said. A grim expression on his face. I knew what he was thinking about.<br/><br/>To track the Warlock, I'd created a thaumaturgical link between the drop of blood in the mosquito, and his body. Then, using the connection between the two, I could feel the pull on the blood in my largely isolated pocket dimension. However, I could also use the link to do other things. Blind him, paralyze him, even kill him if I were inclined to do that. In other words, never let a wizard get his hands on your blood.<br/><br/>"Luckily, my car is faster," I replied.<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>"Dresden, I'll have you know that this is completely against regulation!" Revel yelled as she was being pushed back into the cushions of her seat.<br/><br/>"Luckily, we're going too fast for the cops to catch us!" I replied, pushing the pedal down to the floor.<br/><br/>The Blue Beetle soared over the asphalt, nipping between the larger, seemingly more powerful cars around it. It was rather hilarious to see the other drivers surprised that yes, that was Revel, Myrddin, and another cape in a tiny Volkswagen Beetle soaring down the highway at about a hundred miles an hour.<br/><br/>"First of all, this thing hasn't been tested by anyone!" Revel said.<br/><br/>"Sure it has, we're testing it right now!"<br/><br/>"Plus, there's that damn aura of yours!"<br/><br/>"The internals are so crude, it's pretty close to unbreakable!"<br/><br/>"What do these buttons even do?" she yelled, pointing at the strange tinkertech buttons on the dashboard.<br/><br/>"I'm not quite sure…" I replied, quickly dodging out of the way of a rather bulky truck carrying some sort of flammable chemical in its tank.<br/><br/>"How far out are we?" Ebenezar asked as he was busy with one of the mosquitos, extracting the blood so he could work his magic with it.<br/><br/>"We should be catching up in about five minutes," I said. "Watch it!" I then yelled, as I swiftly swerved around a motorcycle, shaking the three of us in our seats.<br/><br/>"Good, so let's put the finishing touches on our plan."<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>I put my eye on the target, a blue pick-up truck that had seen better days.<br/><br/>"Hexus," I murmured beneath my breath as I launched wild magical energies towards the vehicle. At first, I thought it had failed, but then, large clouds of black smoke started appearing from the exhaust pipe, and from underneath the hood, and from a few other places I didn't know the exact name for.<br/><br/>The driver, our target warlock, started to spin out, flying over the tarmac before stopping in place. Halfway through the spin however, he managed to shoot out a fire-ball, right at the Blue Beetle.<br/><br/>In the split second between seeing its light, and the flames impacting my car, I made my decision, and started wildly pressing buttons.<br/><br/>Then, the Blue Beetle launched itself into the air, right over the fireball.<br/><br/>Because of course Squealer had installed a jumping function in my car. That made sense.<br/><br/>What she hadn't installed, though, was a landing function, and I was very happy about the tight harness that had replaced my seatbelt as the Blue Beetle landed on its side, denting both itself and the road.<br/><br/>When I managed to extricate myself from the seatbelts, I saw that the Warlock had also left his car. He looked Eastern European, at least from what I could see beneath the scabs and bitemarks left behind by Taylor's assault. That girl could be scary when she went all out.<br/><br/>"Myrddin, the guy pretending to be a parahuman," he said.<br/><br/>"Some asshole with self-esteem issues, I presume?" I answered.<br/><br/>The Warlock held on to his staff, a short piece of oak, blackened to near charcoal. Recently, by the smell of it. Had he used it in his ritual when things went wrong?<br/><br/>"The name is Kravos," he replied. "Tell me wizard, does the council know what you're doing here? Have you told them about the parasite in your brain?"<br/><br/>I took out my staff and my blasting wand, and made sure to hold my shielding hand in front of me. This guy had been weak, certainly not council material, but that was before he'd visited the all-you-can-eat people restaurant. Even he probably didn't know exactly how much power he had available to him.<br/><br/>"Tell me Kravos, do you really think they'd let me call myself Myrddin if they didn't know about me?" I said. "If the saying is true, then you must've had idiots for breakfast."<br/><br/>The man's face went dark, darker than it had already been. Behind me, I could hear traffic come to a stop. On the other side of the road however, people were slowing down to watch the cape-fight.<br/><br/>"Forzare!" I yelled out as I launched a punch of pure force at him. He held out his left hand, and I saw a chain of glowing shield bracelets before my force launched itself into his shield.<br/><br/>"I have to say Myrddin, you telling everyone about your equipment has certainly made creating these things easier," he gloated.<br/><br/>Turning my own equipment against me. Turns out there was a negative side to having a devoted internet following that collects everything you do and say.<br/><br/>"Wjerljocht!" Kravos yelled, before launching what appeared to be a lightning bolt at me. Luckily, I had my own shield bracelet, and though it was a heavy impact, it weathered the blow.<br/><br/>"Is that all, you pansy?" I taunted. "No wonder you wanted to be less impotent, though I have to say, most men stick to dick pills!"<br/><br/>"You think you're funny? Huh? You think you stand a chance against me?" Kravos yelled out.<br/><br/>"I think you're a loony," I replied.<br/><br/>"You filthy little-"<br/><br/>"Ventas Servitas!" I yelled out, sending a massive wave of air around the side. Hopefully, He wouldn't see the near-invisible attack coming, and only shield from the front.<br/><br/>Sadly, I was unsuccessful, as the idiot had apparently made his shield a bubble. Sure, it was cool, but it also cost like five times as much energy as just a flat plane.<br/><br/>"Grutte Brân!" he said this time, holding out his staff to create a large ball of fire in front of him, and pumping more and more energy into it to make it larger. Apparently, his plan was to overpower my shield in a single hit.<br/><br/>Which was going to suck, because that fireball looked way too big for me to reliably stop. Not that I wouldn't be able to block it, but the heat it created would burn me even if I stopped all of it, the fire washing around my shield and frying everything in the area.<br/><br/>I took a few steps back, and started pumping enough energy in my shield that it started visually shimmering in the air.<br/><br/>Then, Kravos released his fireball, launching it straight at me, and falling right into my trap.<br/><br/>I dropped my shield, took hold of my staff with both hands, and released my earlier banishment, placing Revel right in the path of the attack.<br/><br/>Before Kravos could do anything about it. Revel caught the fireball with her lantern, and absorbed all of the energy of the attack.<br/><br/>"Surprise!" she said with a smile on her face, launching all of the energy from the fireball, plus whatever she still had stored up, at the warlock.<br/><br/>As the ball of energy flew forward, smashing straight through Kravos's shield, and then into his staff-wielding left arm, I send a small amount of magical energy through half of the plastic bag the mosquito's had been in, giving Ebenezar, who had stayed behind, the signal that our target was distracted.<br/><br/>As Kravos was clutching his shattered arm, Revel flew forward, straight through the shattered shield, and gave him a flying kick to the face. Which wasn't as impressive as it sounded, since she could actually, you know, fly.<br/><br/>The kick threw Kravos to the ground, rolling over the asphalt, clutching his arm.<br/><br/>"You filthy bitch! You have no idea who you're dealing with!" Kravos yelled, and I could see him trying to gather energy in his right arm. Trying, and failing, for Ebenezar had managed to block off his talent using thaumaturgy.<br/><br/>"Who you are? You're just another idiot that thinks he can get away with treating my city as his personal playground!" Revel screamed at him, and I could see her hand moving to her hip, reaching somewhere beneath her kimono.<br/><br/>"Heh, you have absolutely no idea what's happening, do you? That thing out there? It is a beacon, a message to the world. You may have stopped me but-"<br/><br/>Before I could react, Revel's hand appeared from beneath her kimono, holding what looked to be a gun. Seeing it, seeing her with the enemy at her mercy and a gun in her hands, it reminded me of what she'd tried to do to MacFinn, killing someone just for being born with a curse to his name. I sprinted forward, almost falling over in my hurry to reach her, to stop her, when she fired her gun at the guy mid-sentence.<br/><br/>"NO!" I yelled out, dashing to her position.<br/><br/>I saw her, standing there, smiling at her downed opponent. "What the hell is wrong with you?"<br/><br/>She motioned towards the corpse at her feet, and I looked at it, at the tinkertech dart sticking out of the man's neck.<br/><br/>"Tranquilizer you idiot," she replied.<br/><br/>I kept looking at the dart, unsure of what to say. "I thought… I thought you were going to-"<br/><br/>"Kill him? Like I was going to kill the Loup-Garou?" she said.<br/><br/>"Well, it's just…"<br/><br/>"That you were being an idiot? I've killed before, Harry, and if it's the only reliable way of solving a dangerous situation, I will do so again. That doesn't mean I'm some sort of madman with no respect for life." she said, looking at me the way she usually looked at Snaptrap. "Look, I get it, okay, you think killing someone is some sort of unforgivable stain on your soul. Well, newsflash for you, I don't give a shit. If killing someone and staining my own soul is what it takes to keep this city safe, I'll happily do it."<br/><br/>I held my mouth for a second, trying not to put my own foot in my mouth and say something stupid, or attempt to make an inappropriate joke. Revel was angry, probably had been since the Loup-Garou incident a few months back, when I'd disagreed with her judgement, and saved MacFinn's life.<br/><br/>Of course, at the time I objected, I had no reason to believe that killing him hadn't been necessary. Only the freak accident of a shapeshifting wolf triggering had made my choice the right one.<br/><br/>"Furthermore," Revel said, with the same angry look on her face. "I need you to tell me what, exactly, this Council that you were talking about is."<br/><br/>I swallowed. I'd completely forgotten that she'd been able to observe what was happening during the banishment, courtesy of a little modification I'd made to ensure she would be able to jump into action instantly upon returning to the real world.<br/><br/>"Well? I'm waiting here," she said, tapping against her hip with the dart gun.<br/><br/>"The White Council is an organization that has existed, in one way or another, since before the existence of the roman empire," an old man's voice said. Revel and I turned around, only to see that Ebenezar had caught up to us. In the distance, I could see a line of cars that had been forced to stop by the cape-fight in the middle of the highway, and people surrounding those cars. Some of them had phones out, but it was too far away to see.<br/><br/>"It is the largest worldwide organization of wizards, and works as the governing body of the wizard community," he continued. "As such, its main goal is, and has always been, to protect mankind from the abuses of magic."<br/><br/>"Magic? A whole organization of people like you two?" Revel asked, her remaining anger only kept in check by her rampant skepticism.<br/><br/>"That is correct. Magic, not parahuman abilities. If you want, you can perform a brain scan on me, and observe my utter lack of Corona's Pollentia and Gemma," Eb said.<br/><br/>"Except your techbane aura will, of course, interfere with any such scan, just like it would with Myrddin," Revel said. "Not a very good explanation Blackstaff."<br/><br/>"True, although I believe young Tecton found a way to shield tech from the effect," Eb said. "The other option would be to look either of us in the eyes."<br/><br/>Revel took the opportunity, and looked my old teacher straight in the eyes, just like I had done when we first met, and I'd still been reeling from my trigger event, as well as killing Justin.<br/><br/>A soulgaze was, observing from the outside, far less impressive. The two just stood there, and Revel stumbled for a split-second before looking up again.<br/><br/>"I'm guessing you're not entirely wrong then, unless this is another part of your power?"<br/><br/>"It's not, although I understand that it's rather hard to believe. If you want additional proof, just look at my apprentice in the same way, and you'll see the difference between a parahuman and a wizard." Eb replied.<br/><br/>"See the differences? I though you said you were wizards, not parahumans?" Revel asked.<br/><br/>"I'm just a wizard, he's both," Ebenezar replied, and almost directly, I saw Revel turn her head towards me, looking at me with her eyes of steel. Instinctively, I tried to avoid her gaze.<br/><br/>"Look at her Hoss, you owe her that much," Eb said, and I looked back at Revel, losing myself in her determined gaze.<br/><br/><br/><br/><em>I saw Revel, unmasked and weary, standing in front of me. In one hand, she held a bloody sword. In the other, an unbreakable shield. Behind her stood a terrible crucible, in which her armaments had been forged, while the ground before her was covered in corpses. Behind her, behind the crucible even, far in the distance, I saw her Shard, its slithering tendrils reaching her through her footprints.</em><br/><br/><em>Her eyes, her body itself even, looked like it had been forged by that same crucible, although I could see a soft core beneath the hard steel.</em><br/><br/><em>I looked at the crucible, and saw a young girl trying to carry the world, trying and failing as the world burned around her. Her failure had been to take too much upon herself. Later, after that, she had remade herself, forged herself into something that, she hoped, would have been strong enough. All so that others wouldn't need to be the girl that she had been. At the same time, she projected that drive of cold steel of hers onto others. I understood why she had reacted to Snaptrap the way she had done. And why she treated me differently. When we first met, I'd been goofing around, acting the way she'd expected one of the Wards to behave. It had been hard for her to categorize me. Thus, she'd decided to simply put up with my idiosyncrasies, chalking it up to trauma from a trigger event.</em><br/><br/><br/><br/>I returned to a world that was slightly less real than the vision, and saw Revel looking at me, shock in her eyes.<br/><br/>"What… what was that thing?" she asked.<br/><br/>"A Shard," I replied. "Some sort of extradimensional invader that wedged itself into my brain and gave me supernatural abilities."<br/><br/>"You mean I've got?" she said, her eyes turning to panic.<br/><br/>"One just like it? I'm afraid so yes, although yours is less pronounced than most I've seen," Ebenezar said.<br/><br/>Revel closed her eyes, quieting her thoughts, and taking some time to think. I let her, as Ebenezar went to check on the sedated Warlock. After a few minutes, when sirens were appearing in the distance, Ebenezar interrupted her thoughts.<br/><br/>"Before anyone arrives, we need to decide what to do with the Warlock," Ebenezar said.<br/><br/>"What do you mean? He's under arrest, it's up to the judge to decide what's next," Revel said.<br/><br/>"It's not that simple," Ebenezar said. "Like I said, the White Council is there to protect mankind from the abuses of magic. This is done according to the Laws of Magic, and the punishment for breaking the first law, Thou Shallt not Kill with Magic, is usually death."<br/><br/>"Death?" Revel asked.<br/><br/>"To kill, specifically, to kill with magic, it literally stains the soul. Once someone has started doing it, he will do so over and over again, his very essence changing by the nature of the act. That man there, lying on the floor? He won't stop, he'll never stop."<br/><br/>"So we imprison him, let him rot," Revel said.<br/><br/>"Perhaps…" Ebenezar said. "In the past, death was used because it is near impossible to keep a wizard imprisoned against his will, and because redemption is near impossible. With the creation of the birdcage however, he might actually remain locked up."<br/><br/>"Given what he's done, I think a birdcage sentence is definitely a possibility," Revel said. "I presume a sentence there will keep your Council happy?"<br/><br/>"I presume it will, yes,' Ebenezar replied. "But there's the Nevernever to consider."<br/><br/>"Nevernever?"<br/><br/>"Spirit dimension, any practicioner worth the name can open a portal there, that he could use to escape. I mean, unless Dragon created some sort of countermeasure," Ebenezar said.<br/><br/>"No need," I replied.<br/><br/>"Oh?" he asked, seemingly surprised.<br/><br/>"It's not just a prison, it's the prison. Plus, you need to take into account whose control it's under," I explained. "I mean, whose it's really under."<br/><br/>"Glaistig Uaine…" Eb said.<br/><br/>"The girl that calls herself a fairy queen."<br/><br/>"Wait, what does that mean?" Revel asked.<br/><br/>"When you make a portal to the Nevernever, then generally speaking, you'll end up in a place that's metahpysically similar to the place you left. In this case-<br/><br/>"He'd probably end up right in one of Queen Mab's prison cells, which means he'd want to go back to the Birdcage."<br/><br/>"Well, it's worth a try," Eb said.<br/><br/>"Good, then that's dealt with in time," Revel concluded, gesturing to the approaching cops and PRT troopers. "And Myrddin, I need to have a talk with you about that apprentice of yours. She's been breaking my rules."</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0007"><h2>7. Prisoner Six Three Five</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"Prisoner 634, codename Burnscar. PRT powers designation Blaster 6, Shaker 7, Mover 8, Fire and heat only. Individuals reading or viewing this log are directed to see page four and five of prisoner's file for particulars on powers. Reccomended protocols were properly carried out with a sprinkler system and a blindfold. Chance of escape following interment in the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center rests at 0.00032% with no gross deviations related to the prisoner. Within acceptable limits. Will be processed to cell block C," the voice said over the speakers. Covering the voice was the sound of flowing water.<br/>
<br/>
Kravos forced his eyes open, and saw the mechanical arms holding the girl. She looked young, a teenager, college age at best. Cute, if not for the cigarette burns on her cheeks.<br/>
<br/>
He also saw the oversized monitor, showing a CGI rendering of a face. Dragon, he recognized.<br/>
<br/>
Still recovering from his slumber, he called upon his power. The Chicago Protectorate might have beaten him, but Dragon was no wizard. In fact, she was a Tinker, which meant she used high-tech tools instead. A simple hex would see him freed from these bindings.<br/>
<br/>
"Flok," he said, sending out his energy, when he noticed the spinklers, sending water all around him.<br/>
<br/>
"Prisoner 635, I'll get to you in a minute. Please don't be impatient," Dragon said.<br/>
<br/>
Prisoner 635, that would be him. It was strange… he barely remembered the trial, since the PRT had kept him sedated for most of it. A smart move, for a bunch of normals. Then, using testimony from the traitorous members of his cult, as well as from several Thinkers, they'd condemned him to this place.<br/>
<br/>
He would have escaped in the few moments he'd been awake, but they'd been careful to have several powerful capes near him at all times.<br/>
<br/>
"Now, I know you've been dealt a bad hand Mimi, but that is not an excuse for what you have done. Anyway, Glaistig Uaine is in control of Cell Block C. She doesn't tolerate violence within her domain, but as long as you obey a few basic rules, I think you should be okay in there, because there are no other pyromancers outside of those she controls," Dragon said, almost motherly.<br/>
<br/>
Burnscar just hung there, held aloft by the large mechanical grasper that had lifted her from the secure truck.<br/>
<br/>
"Prisoner 635, codename the Culler. PRT powers designation Blaster 5, Master 6, Trump 3. Individuals reading or viewing this log are directed to see page two and three of prisoner's file for particulars on powers. Recommended protocols, courtesy of PROT Underscore Myrddin were correctly carried out, with water flow from sprinkler system in constant contact with skin. Countermeasures seemingly effective. Chance of escape following interment in the Baumann Parahuman Containment Center rests at 0.00025% with small deviations in case the prisoner manifests a new Mover power. Will be processed to Cell Block T," Dragon said.<br/>
<br/>
Manifests a Mover power, he thought sardonically, as if he was just another idiot with a parasite in his brain.<br/>
<br/>
Soon, once he was away fromt his damnable overdesigned sprinkler system, he would be free. It would be trivial to escape from this place with his skills. After all, those fools had built it to contain parahumans, not Sorcerors as mighty as he was.<br/>
<br/>
"What, you're not going to give me a little pep talk?" he asked.<br/>
<br/>
"No," Dragon replied. "You killed over a dozen defenceless innocents, and relied on Behemoth's presence in New Delhi to get away with it. To speak frankly, I think it would be useless, since I'm estimating an eighty-four point two-three-seven percent chance that you'll be killed within the first twenty-four hours. Even in there, you are an acceptable target."<br/>
<br/>
"You willing to take a bet on that?" he asked.<br/>
<br/>
"Sure, If you manage to survive longer than twenty-four hours, I'll provide you with water and bread for the rest of your days," Dragon replied.<br/>
<br/>
"I will be depositing you in the elevators now. You'll be provided with a limited amount of oxygen yada yada yada. Mimi, try not to burn anything on the way down because you'll asphyxiate."<br/>
<br/>
The arms carried him away, shifting the vilainess in a different direction. She seemed resigned to her fate.<br/>
<br/>
***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/>
<br/>
As his elevator slowed down, he could feel the water stop flowing, and his power returned. Power, real power, the type that was rightfully his. Yet not as much as he should have had.<br/>
<br/>
He looked around the cellblock, and started mentally categorizing them. Sure, he could tear a hole to the Nevernever right now, but why would he? This entire prison was filled with parahumans, ripe for the plucking. Then, once he had absorbed them, all that they had been would be his. This was the birdcage, and these were all experienced parahumans that would serve him as a conduit to get to their abilities.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey, mate, what's your name?" one of them asked in an Australian accent. Tall, muscled, shirtless, with unkempt long blonde hair, and the arms of his prison uniform tied around his waist. Gavel, he recognized. Good, the man would serve has his first name.<br/>
<br/>
Kravos laughed, looking at his future meal. The man walked closer, serving himself up on a silver platter.<br/>
<br/>
"Hey goaty, I asked you something," Gavel said nonchalantly, like he wasn't about to get his life sucked out through his forehead.<br/>
<br/>
Reminded of the feature, Kravos stroked his beard, salivating at the thought of the next few hours.<br/>
<br/>
"I am Leonard Kravos, and your next insult towards me will be the last action you'll ever take," he said. As if the man had any chance of survival, even if he started grovelling right away.<br/>
<br/>
Suddenly, a man ran into the cell block from the entrance.<br/>
<br/>
"Boss, we've got a problem! The queen is coming!" the new man said.<br/>
<br/>
"I see…" Gavel responded, and he finally looked worried. "Pyrophage, do we have any coco left?"<br/>
<br/>
"Three packets sir," a cape with an overly large mouth, and flaming eyes, responded. "I'll get right on it."<br/>
<br/>
"What, you think you can just ignore me?" Kravos asked. "Do you even know who I am?"<br/>
<br/>
<em><b>"Yes"</b></em> a thousand voices called out.<br/>
<br/>
Kravos turned around, and beheld true power.<br/>
<br/>
Etheral, Ephemeral. Glaistig Uaine. He could see her, standing in the doorway. Her small form covered in a thousand shrouds, each placed to stop her power from radiating out, each failing to stop her mere presence from almost blinding him.<br/>
<br/>
<b><em>"We know thy name, Kravos, we know thy master,"</em></b> she, they, said. As she spoke, he could see a thousand spirits, standing in her location, speaking with her as one. Around her, spectral capes stood at the ready.<br/>
<br/>
This, Kravos knew instinctively, was not someone he could fight. This was not someone that could be fought by anyone.<br/>
<br/>
"Poarte," he spoke, ready to leave. He would miss a meal, but he would live.<br/>
<br/>
As he spoke, and formed his magical energy into a doorway, he felt, rather than saw Glaistig Uaine change position. She was standing in front of him, holding his hand in hers, and blocking his magic.<br/>
<br/>
<b><em>"Are you sure you do not wish to stay a while, warlock?"</em></b> she, they, it, asked him.<br/>
<br/>
"What are you?" he asked, more out of surprise than curiosity.<br/>
<br/>
<b><em>"I am the Queen of the Earth and of Continuation, I am she who pays the price. I am the seventh Queen and the mistress of this court. I am Glaistig Uaine of the court of the future," </em></b>she said, looking him straight into the eyes. He tried to turn away his gaze, but couldn't.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<em>She was the Queen of the Earth and of Continuation, she was willing to pay the price. She was of the court of the future, seventh out of twelve. She had gained power and been chained because of it, and she had chained herself to gain power.</em><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
He understood how the woman had attained power in that moment. Or, at least, how she had started on her journey. Her power allowed her to absorb the ability of any parahuman killed in her vicinity. And where he had used his magic to take the power of a man, and attempted to take his power through that process…<br/>
<br/>
The Seventh Queen had taken their powers, and with that, their very souls, into herself. A hundred powers meant a hundred souls. And then, from that point, she had somehow attained even greater power, carving out a fey kingdom beneath her mountain.<br/>
<br/>
He looked around, and saw every single villain in the cell-block prostrating before her, and he understood.<br/>
<br/>
Yes, she lacked the sheer numbers that the Summer and Winter courts had, but every single prisoner in this place had been brought here because they were too powerful and too dangerous for the outside world.<br/>
<br/>
Yes, a being like the LeananSidhe was dangerous, but Acidbath? Teacher? String Theory? Those were not to be trifled with either, and there were hundreds of people here. Not to mention those who served her directly, who were part of her.<br/>
<br/>
<b><em>"When you meet them, tell my fellow queens that I shall be ready on midsummer's eve,"</em></b> The Fairy Queen said.<br/>
<br/>
"When I meet them?" he asked.<br/>
<br/>
"You were about to visit Mab, were you not?" she asked, suddenly less self-assured, slightly more like a young girl.<br/>
<br/>
Of course… This was her domain. To open a portal here, he did not need to wonder where it would go.<br/>
<br/>
As he realized that escape would not be as easy as he had thought it would be, he fell to his knees, still in front of the Queen.<br/>
<br/>
<em><b>"Now, as for your master,"</b></em> the Queen said.<br/>
<br/>
"My master?" he asked, not understanding.<br/>
<br/>
<b><em>"Your master, the enemy. He to whom the Walkers kneel."</em></b> the girl said, walking around him, her gaze keeping him on his knees. <em><b>"You did not even know you served him, did you?"</b></em><br/>
<br/>
"Your Grace?" One of the men, Pyrophage, said. "Thy coco awaits."<br/>
<br/>
Within his hands, he held a tiny paper cup filled with a steaming brown drink.<br/>
<br/>
<b><em>"Good, good,"</em></b> she replied, a child once again. <b><em>"Perhaps I shall make you my emissary, next time I have need of one."</em></b><br/>
<br/>
"And the new guy?" Gavel asked her, once again standing, courageous now that his queen had her coco.<br/>
<br/>
<b><em>"He is of little consequence. You may kill him if he turns aggressive,"</em></b> she replied, slowly sipping her hot drink.<br/>
<br/>
"Of course, your Grace," Gavel replied.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0008"><h2>8. An Important Talk</h2></a>
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    <p>Four-dimension limbs latched out, slithering beneath the man's bone-white costume. One of them, exploring, reached his face. Moments before they kissed, the man was ripped away, and almost immediately, the shard followed, sucked through an unimagineable hole. It was wrong in a multitude of ways. The way the Shard and the host had interacted, the way the Shard had assisted its host, even though the host behaviour was non-optimal. The way the Shard got sucked out through a break in between dimensions. Suffering and death were upon it, an end to an endless cycle that would go beyond the life of the universe, and the elevator dinged.<br/><br/>The thick metal doors opened without a sound, and I felt myself clenching on to the card on my lanyard, no matter how times I'd gone through that, I hadn't gotten used to it yet.<br/><br/>According to Harry, when he used his sight, it was largely visual. Same with his Soulgazes. Maybe it was because of my Shard, or a feature of my personality and my talents, but my vision seemed to be more abstract, less bound to the traditional senses of the human mind.<br/><br/>But even though my vision was different, one thing remained the same. It didn't fade. It had been three days now, and I still saw it in my head like I was right there. The entire thing was strange. Kravos, the warlock, had somehow interacted with Genoscythe's Shard, and through that, created some sort of analogue to a trigger vision in me and Vicky. However, that meant that what I'd seen was, at least partly, through my Shard's senses, and therefore infused with what was probably best described as its emotions. Problem was, they weren't really emotions, at least not in the way I knew them. Instead, they belonged to something far too alien for me to understand.<br/><br/>I stepped out of the elevator, and walked through the hallways, until eventually reaching the office I was there for. If anything, this reminded me of the times I'd been called into principal Blackwell's office, back at Winslow. Only instead of talking to a high-school principal, I had an appointment with the angry leader of the local Protectorate planned.<br/><br/>I stood in front of the door, which largely consisted out of frosted glass, with the word Revel spelled out on it in the same flowing type that was used in official PRT merchandise, the lines of the letters reminiscent of the paths her orbs took through the sky. I knocked on the glass, resisting the urge to tap out 'shave and a haircut'. It was what Harry would have done, if he hadn't decided on something like the Imperial March instead. Not doing what he would've done was probably the right idea here, although I couldn't really expect anything like a fair deal from the head of the Protectorate.<br/><br/>A green light suddenly appeared next to the door, courtesy of a tiny little LED. Then, it slowly began to open, having been unlocked from the inside.<br/><br/>"Come in," Revel's voice came from her office. By the sound of it, she was still sitting in her chair, meaning the door probably opened mechanically.<br/><br/>I obliged, and entered the room, feeling the door automatically close behind me.<br/><br/>Revel's office was… not how I'd expected it. For someone with a costume that was so obviously Asian, the décor looked remarkably American. Her metal desk had a computer, two neat piles of paperwork, and a novelty penholder in the shape of her costume. She had two mugs on the table, one of which read #2 boss, the other with a picture of the Chicago Protectorate, with a slightley different line-up. Going by the fact that Harry wasn't wearing half his equipment, and Snaptrap was absent, it was a few years old. The walls were largely empty, apart from a few posters, and a calender with a large picture of Bastion for the month of July. His racist outburst hadn't happened yet when they designed this particular hunk of the month calender.<br/><br/>"Sit down please Skitter," Revel said, pointing at a chair in front of her desk. She wasn't wearing her costume, instead limiting herself to just her mask and a casual dress. I obliged, and sat down on the chair.<br/><br/>"You wanted to talk to me?" I asked.<br/><br/>"I did," she replied, taking off her mask with one hand, showing me the lower half of her face. "I hear Harry's been teaching you magic?"<br/><br/>Sitting in front of her, I was oddly conscious of my own costume. I hadn't really done too much with it since I created it. Harry was going to help me put a protective enchantment on it, but the level of skill that that required was beyond me right now. What was the ettiquette here? Was I supposed to take off my own mask? That's what I'd done when I'd met with the Undersiders, back on that rooftop all those months ago.<br/><br/>"He has," I replied.<br/><br/>"I've got to admit… I really did not think he'd been telling me the truth all along. I'd get angry at him but but he didn't even lie."<br/><br/>"I'm guessing you figured it out?" I asked her.<br/><br/>"His old teacher, Blackstaff, gave me the insight I needed to understand I'd been an idiot all along."<br/><br/>"I hope you didn't take it as badly as I did."<br/><br/>"The Tattletale thing, I presume?" she asked.<br/><br/>I nodded.<br/><br/>"How is she, by the way?"<br/><br/>"Recovering," I answered. "She hasn't had any Thinker headaches since she, well, died. So she thought she wasn't going to get them anymore. But as it turns out, it's just that she couldn't feel them, so when they finally became too much, they hit all at once." I replied.<br/><br/>"Like when the adrenaline runs off after a fight, I guess?"<br/><br/>"Probably. I'd ask her, but, well…"<br/><br/>"I get it," she said.<br/><br/>I looked around her office awkwardly, not entirely sure if the conversation was finished or not. I didn't really think she'd only called me here to talk about magic, but she was letting a rather unsettling pause fall into the conversation.<br/><br/>"So, do you know why I actually called you in?" Revel asked after an awkward minute or so.<br/><br/>I thought about it, again, but still wasn't entirely sure. Was she angry about how I handled the Warlock situation? About involving Glory Girl in my investigation?<br/><br/>"No" I answered.<br/><br/>"I thought so," she replied. In other words, she asked a question that was roughly on par with 'do you know how fast you were going?'<br/><br/>I suddenly really didn't feel like finishing this conversation.<br/><br/>"Do you remember the rules I laid out for you? Back during the Hexenwolf thing?" she asked.<br/><br/>I thought back to the conversation. To be fair, it'd been just a few hours before I awoke my magic, so it wasn't something I'd been focused on, but I did remember us making a deal of sorts. Of course, she was in the perfect position to arrest me at the time, so it hadn't been much of a fair deal, but she'd basically ordered me not to take any pro-active action on my own. I hadn't thought much of it, since I'd been much too busy studying the books on magic Harry had been providing me with, but that rule had been there.<br/><br/>"This is about me trying to save Genoscythe," I answered.<br/><br/>"No, this is about you deciding to go after that Warlock on your own, even after Shuffle advised you to sit this one out," she said.<br/><br/>"Look, we wanted to call for back-up, but Victoria's phone broke down and we didn't have the time," I explained. I knew it hadn't been a good plan, attacking right then and there without a proper plan or back-up, but I couldn't just sit there and watch as the Warlock was killing someone.<br/><br/>"And that's not what I'm angry about," Revel replied. "I'm angry about the fact that you were there at all."<br/><br/>"What, so I should have just left Genoscythe to die!" I yelled.<br/><br/>"No, that's not what I'm saying, and you're not listening to me," she said, exasperated.<br/><br/>"Well seems to me like you're saying me fighting the Warlock was a bad thing!" I said, trying to calm myself down, and failing.<br/><br/>"Look, Taylor… It's not about you doing what you did in that situation, it's about you even being in that situation. You're sixteen, you shouldn't be in situations where you have to go in without backup to save someone's life!" Revel said, but I was barely even listening.<br/><br/>Taylor… She knew who I was. First Harry, then Amy and Vicky… was my identity just an open secret these days?<br/><br/>"Who told you?" I demanded.<br/><br/>Revel's hand went to her head, as if she was nursing a headache. "You do remember the part where I got you into those online classes, right?" she asked.<br/><br/>Oh, right. The classes I was following… It actually did make sense that she'd need my name to sign me up for those. I just hadn't thought about what they had meant, being too busy with my magical studies.<br/><br/>"Anyway… As I was saying, you shouldn't be getting into situations like that at all. If you had a lead, you should've brought it to Shuffle, who would've made sure a full strike team was sent out. You're young, and if I'm to believe Ebby, you have another three centuries ahead of you. I've seen where the path you're walking leads to, and trust me, you don't want to go there. Not now, while you still have your whole live ahead of you."<br/><br/>"So I should just let people like this Kravos guy do what they want?" I asked.<br/><br/>"No, but you should try to accept that you don't have to solve everything yourself. I've been in this game for over a decade, the Triumvirate for more than twice that. Ebby goes back several centuries. What I want is for you to actually ask for help if there's something you're having trouble with."<br/><br/>"But what if I can't? What if I have to act right then and there? What if me asking for help leads to people dying? You can't just always ask people to bail you out!" I said, half-yelling at her moralizing.<br/><br/>"If you can't, then you act, and you make sure you're never in that situation again," she replied, a dark mood on her face. "You're smart and inventive, even without magic, you should be able to figure something out."<br/><br/>I sat back in the chair, folding my arms. What she said made sense, in a twisted sort of way, but I didn't exactly agree with it. First of all, she hadn't even been there. Furthermore, there hadn't been a lot of time between finding the warlock and actually fighting him, and I was pretty sure that Shuffle wouldn't believe me if I said I had information from a fairy.<br/><br/>I decided to tell Revel that. She responded by smacking her hand into her face, making sure not to hit the area where her mask would have been, had she been wearing it.<br/><br/>"Taylor, we've known about Toot for a couple of years now. Had Shuffle known you had a way of contacting him, he would've taken your advice immediately."<br/><br/>"That's not the point," I replied. "Anyway, was there anything else?"<br/><br/>"Yes, although the topic is related," she said. "As someone who's been on both sides of Glory Girl's aura, what's your impression of her?"<br/><br/>"What do you mean exactly?"<br/><br/>"I mean you've fought both with and against her. We've had some… interesting reports brought over from the remnants of the Brockton Bay PRT. They didn't exactly have any evidence to go with them though, which is why I'm gathering information."<br/><br/>"Well…" I said, thinking back to the bank-job. The way she and her sister had threatened me and Tattletale. It wasn't something that reflected well upon me, and Lisa certainly hadn't been going easy on them.<br/><br/>But, I had to admit, I'd been absolutely terrified of them. Yes, her aura played a role in that, and I'd been more afraid of Panacea than of her sister, but depending on what Revel was going on about…<br/><br/>"I… It's hard to say exactly, and I don't want to rat out my friend…" I said, thinking about what to say. Glory Girl could be absolutely terrifying, and she seemed to be perfectly happy to break some bones in order to win a fight. Then again, after what I'd done to Lung's man-parts, I had little right to speak about someone going all out. Even if most of that had been the fault of Armsmaster's tranquilizer. "I'd say she can certainly come across as overly violent… but partly that's her aura, and partly that's her being a cape? I mean, she's not perfect, but she didn't do anything I wouldn't have done in her situation, at least I don't think so."<br/><br/>"I see…" Revel replied, and I realized that 'she didn't do anything I wouldn't have done' did not necessarily reflect well on her, given my own reputation, and Revel's anger at me.<br/><br/>"Well, then I think we're about done here," Revel said, and as I was about to stand up, she continued. "But before you leave, two things. One, if you pull something like this again, you're going straight into the Wards program. Two, the director is busy finalizing the recruitment of a bunch of new Wards. I'd prefer it if you came by in a few days to say hello to them, make sure there's no miscommunications in the field."<br/><br/>I nodded, and left, trying not to think about how much power Revel had over me, just by virtue of my past actions with the Undersiders.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0009"><h2>9. The Director</h2></a>
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    <p>
      <b>A few Years Ago</b>
    </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p>Director James Hearthrow looked around his office, wondering how it had even come to this. Sure, it hadn't seemed like much back in college, but he almost regretted joining one of the most important secret organizations in the world. Almost, but not quite. He could barely imagine how confused he would've been if he hadn't been initiated in the secrets of his organization. Which brought him to the current situation, debriefing a trooper that had gotten into contact with the paranormal, and convincing her it had been a mere contact with a parahuman, all from the comfort of his Chicago Office.</p>
    <p>"Officer Murphy? Come in please," Hearthrow said, putting on a smile for the distraught trooper.</p>
    <p>"Director, sir," the woman said, giving him a quick salute with her head. "Is there a problem?"</p>
    <p>"Nothing big, I prefer being personally informed about any new capes in the city. Have a seat," Hearthrow said, motioning at the comfortable chair in front of his desk.</p>
    <p>According to unofficial PRT protocol, it was normal for the comfortability levels of a chair to be, at most, seventy percent of those of the director's chair. Something about playing power games with people you were talking to. Perhaps, he thought, some people just needed to have something in their life telling them they were powerful, especially when they spend their days working with people that could blow your head of with an idle thought. Hearthrow disagreed with the notion. First of all, he thought it rather childish and disrespectful not to allow his visitors some creature comforts. After all, he didn't even have to move for any of his meetings. Secondly, well, perhaps the overly comfy chairs would lure people into a false sense of security.</p>
    <p>In this case, he just hoped it would calm the sergeant's nerves. She'd obviously seen something rather disconcerting, and it wouldn't do to annoy her further.</p>
    <p>"What happened?" he asked as the young officer sat down. He'd quickly reviewed her file beforehand. She'd started in the police force, and gotten in trouble after being too capable for her own good. One of his own people had then managed to recruit her away from the den of corruption that was the Chicago PD. Unlike most of his veteran troopers, Officer Murphy and the others of her generation generally had no military experience, courtesy of cutbacks soon after Scion had started interfering in armed conflicts. However, there were a few notes about the officer causing general mayhem during CQC training, despite her diminutive size.</p>
    <p>"I got a message from an old friend on the force sir, something about a kidnapping. He thought something was off about it, but his superiors disagreed. We were dropping by to see if we could help him out under the table when it happened," Murphy explained.</p>
    <p>"The kidnapping, you're talking about the Astor case? They've been hounding me for PRT attention, I thought they were overreacting," he replied, letting her in on his side of the events.</p>
    <p>"They were, sir, at least in part," the sergeant said. "Young miss Astor wasn't kidnapped, she simply ran away. We didn't know that though, so when we came across an unknown cape with the girl in tow, some of us reacted rather enthusiastically."</p>
    <p>"Meaning you shot him?" Hearthrow asked, one eyebrow raised. He was proud of that, the ability to move his eyebrows completely independently. It had taken him some time, but it was worth it. It was one of the many skills that separated the good superior, from the great superior.</p>
    <p>"Meaning Sergeant Johnson tried to shoot him sir, the cape did something with his staff, and Johnson disappeared into thin air," Karrin continued.</p>
    <p>"Going by the fact that the flag out front is still raised, I presume that he did not, in fact, become thin air?" he asked. A cape with a staff, with the ability to make people disappear. Some sort of veil perhaps? He'd been quite sure there weren't any wizards in Chicago; maybe that had changed recently.</p>
    <p>"No sir. The cape in question, he didn't give us a name, later released Johnson from his ability, some sort of pocket dimension he claimed.</p>
    <p>"Some sort of blaster ability then? Shove people out of reality for a bit? Did you see anything about the mechanisms of his ability?"</p>
    <p>"I'm not sure, but he waved around with his staff, creating some sort of glowing symbol in the air."</p>
    <p>"When you say staff, you mean, like, wizard-style?" Hearthrow asked. "And if so, are we talking Gandalf or Dumbledore?"</p>
    <p>"Gandalf, sir. I was about to get to that part of the story," Karrin Murphy said, continuing when Hearthrow motioned for her to. "We were talking to the new cape when the little runaway decided to, well, make a run for it."</p>
    <p>"The cape, what was he like?"</p>
    <p>"Let's see, early twenties I think, not ugly, but not necessarily attractive either. Thing is, he wasn't wearing a mask, just a big trenchcoat and a large wooden staff. Not even a hat or anything. I'm pretty sure the staff was made out of oak wood, but I'm not sure whether that's relevant or not."</p>
    <p>"And his personality? What kind of person are we talking about" Hearthrow asked.</p>
    <p>"I'd say he was a bit weird, which the wizard-staff made clear, but I've met worse. That said, he wasn't a very serious person, joked around a lot. Weird thing was, he seemed to become less serious when things got tense. He seemed to be a nice person, and he was bringing the kid back home when we came across them."</p>
    <p>"An independent hero then?" Hearthrow asked.</p>
    <p>"Of a sort? He said he was working with a private eye, something about manipulating the fundamental forces of the universe not paying the rent. Anyway, when we chased down the girl, we met this, well, the only way I could describe it as a Troll."</p>
    <p>"Someone being annoying on the internet?" Hearthrow asked, hoping that his nonsensical bit of levity was actually correct. The last thing he needed was a Troll infestation in the city.</p>
    <p>"Sadly not, it was some sort of massive Brute, maybe a Case 53 or something. He was more than ten feet tall, hideously ugly, and he wanted to eat the Astor girl?" the officer said, questioning the last part of her sentence. She probably wouldn't have believed it if she hadn't been there to see it.</p>
    <p>"Eat her?" Hearthrow asked, faking incredulity. Eating children, while horrible, was SOP for Trolls. One of the reasons you needed to stomp them out whenever possible.</p>
    <p>"Yes sir, he had her legs dangling above his mouth when we caught up with her. It was rather disconcerting."</p>
    <p>"I suppose you managed to stop that from happening?" he asked.</p>
    <p>"We did sir, or rather, the wizard cape did. He banished the girl in the same way he banished officer Johnson. After that, we opened fire on the Troll."</p>
    <p>"Define opened fire," he replied.</p>
    <p>"Riddled him with bullets, sir."</p>
    <p>"Not exactly what the protocols advice," he replied.</p>
    <p>"No sir, but given its apparent activities, and a lack of information about our newfound ally's abilities, we thought it prudent to act with maximum force, especially since there was no-one near the line of fire."</p>
    <p>"Very well, although you shouldn't make a habit out of it. So, what happened next?"</p>
    <p>"The Troll, it, well, do you know about those spiders? The ones that, when they're pregnant and you squish them, a thousand baby spiders come out?" Murphy asked, the disgust obviously visible on her face. Hearthrow was quite happy with his office job, one where he would probably never meet one of those spiders, let alone a troll hatching the same way. "You're telling me we've got a couple hundred miniature child-eaters on the loose?" he asked.</p>
    <p>"No sir, the other cape, he mumbled something, followed by fire flowing out of a smaller staff in his left hand, neatly burning all the tiny, well, hatchlings."</p>
    <p>"Fire too? Seems rather versatile, do you know what he said?"</p>
    <p>"He said he was casting a spell, wouldn't explain what he meant by that. Like I told you sir, he was kind of strange."</p>
    <p>"Capes believing their powers are magic are hardly anything new. Did anyone ask him if he was interested in the Protectorate?" he asked. Wondering whether or not it was an actual practitioner they were talking about, or just a parahuman with a versatile power and some delusions. Mumbling spells and the staff foci pointed in the direction of actual wizard, but temporary extradimensional banishment? That didn't fit with what he knew, especially if it wasn't just some sort of veil.</p>
    <p>"He said he would think about it sir, but I'm not sure he was entirely serious. Then again, I don't think he's the type of person to ever be entirely serious," Murphy replied.</p>
    <p>"Well, with any luck, he'll contact us himself. If not, continued friendly contact seems to be the way to go. Officer Murphy, you can go now."</p>
    <p>"Yes sir," Murphy replied.</p>
    <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p>
    <p>
      <b>A few years later.</b>
    </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p>"Mister Dresden, was it?" Hearthrow asked.</p>
    <p>"Just Harry is fine," the young man replied.</p>
    <p>Hearthrow looked at him. Brown hair, brown eyes, and rather tall. Not cape level tall, but someone who towered above others on the street nonetheless. He had a goofy smile on his face, and seemed to be in a good mood. The only thing that gave him away was that he kept looking away from Hearthrow's eyes whenever their sight met.</p>
    <p>Which meant that he was either a wizard, or really shy. Going by his behavior, wizard.</p>
    <p>"So, Harry, why are you here?" Hearthrow asked.</p>
    <p>"Because I'm a wizard," Harry replied with a goofy smile on his face.</p>
    <p>"What, exactly, do you mean by that?" he asked.</p>
    <p>"That I have magical abilities. You know, fireballs, telekineses, tracking people by their hair, banishing them to different dimensions, conjuring the elements, that sort of thing," Harry explained.</p>
    <p>What, exactly, was this man going for? Hearthrow asked himself. Was this Harry an actual practitioner, outright telling people he was a practitioner and offering his help? Was he a deluded parahuman? Was he both?</p>
    <p>"And you want to join up? Become a member of the Protectorate?" he asked.</p>
    <p>"Well, I was going to teach at Hogwarts, but as it turns out they just hired a werewolf instead!" Harry replied.</p>
    <p>"And you are aware that magic is not, in fact, real?" Hearthrow asked him.</p>
    <p>"I'm quite aware that most people believe so, but if it looks like a wizard, casts spells like a wizard, and has the greatest cat ever like a wizard, then its a wizard isn't it?" Harry replied.</p>
    <p>"Or, as most would say, a parahuman," Hearthrow replied.</p>
    <p>"Some people would say that, seems to me like its magic though, wouldn't you say?" Harry said. "I mean, I guess it doesn't really matter what you call it, I just think its a bit silly to deny the existence of magic."</p>
    <p>Hearthrow thought about the statement for a bit, and its implications. Ominously, he saw the screen of his computer start flickering from the corner of his eye. That settled it, there was an actual wizard right in front of him, asking to join the Protectorate. That, or he was a parahuman with wizard-like abilities that just so happened to also include some sort of technology-destroying effect. So, in other words, he was a wizard. Given that, as well as his other hints, was it possible that the man was both a wizard and a parahuman? He'd never heard about it, and the Venatori Umbrum had quite a few sources spread around the world. Then again, though unlikely, it was bound to happen someday. Right now, the figure for urban environments was one in eight thousand for parahumans, and slowly rising. Thus, one in every eight thousand young wizards was likely to have powers. At least, discounting some sort dependence between the two.</p>
    <p>That left another question, was Harry a member of the White Council? Probably not, if the Council had a parahuman, wouldn't they have notified their allies? Then again, if the Council had a parahuman, wouldn't they try to keep that a secret? Then again, if the Council kept their parahuman a secret, would they make him join the Protectorate?</p>
    <p>The out-of-context nature of the parahuman phenomenon had meant that most supernatural actors were slow to pick up on it, with the exception of Mab, who had quickly updated her Accords when the Endbringers introduced themselves as a permanent fixture.</p>
    <p>"All things considered, your views on the nature of your abilities aren't all that relevant to the case at hand," Hearthrow said, changing the topic. "What matters is the fact that you have them, and that you want to use them to help people. I do, however, have an important question. Being a part of the Protectorate means more than just being a hero, it means following orders, both those of your team leader, as well of those coming from the civilian oversight i.e. me. Will you be able to do that, even if you don't necessarily agree with them?"</p>
    <p>The question, Hearthrow thought, was relevant in more ways than one. Sure, it was important that people could follow orders, especially in the heat of battle, but what mattered was how someone responded, because it told you a lot about them. Some people responded by saying yes immediately, either because they meant it, or because they were afraid that saying anything else would mean they couldn't join. Others, the ones that favored their own independence, would start with a no, after which Hearthrow would start negotiating in earnest. After all, if they really didn't want to, they wouldn't have applied to join the Protectorate. In many cases, it simply came down to people being afraid that they would be forced to go against their morals. Violent as their powers might be, most of the parahumans in Chicago didn't actually want to kill anyone, especially those with heroic intentions.</p>
    <p>The third option was that people would give an answer somewhere in between, a 'yes, but' so to speak. That was where things got interesting most of the time, and where he could really get an insight into people's minds. Shuffle, for example, had said that he was technically willing, but unsure of his ability to do so. The man was intelligent, dependable and loyal, but only had limited control over his ability, something he kept informing any superiors about. Given what he had learned about the man's trigger event, he thought it had to do with Shuffle's tendency to take responsibility for everything happening around him. He'd gotten the power to enact change to a massive degree, but lacked control, exacerbating his issues.</p>
    <p>"Yes, unless you want me execute Order 66," Harry replied, a rather annoying grin on his face.</p>
    <p>A jokester then, and someone with an independent sense of morality. Not the type to take authority seriously. Given his track record so far, he would do what was asked of him, until he wouldn't. It wasn't a large problem, but it was something that would be put in the man's file. Fighting criminals? Yes. Fighting Simmurgh victims? Probably not.</p>
    <p>"Well, unless there's space wizards in the city, I don't think that will be much of a problem. Now, we've got some paperwork to go through, but welcome to the Protectorate!" Hearthrow said, extending a hand to the young man in front of him.</p>
    <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p>
    <p>
      <b>Several months before Leviathan</b>
    </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p>Chicago, Hearthrow thought, was a shithole. But, it was his shithole.</p>
    <p>Unlike most cities, Chicago's underworld wasn't ruled by groups of capes running around and throwing fireballs at each other. Sure, there were gangs and villain teams, but the real problem wasn't with them. The real problem was the amount of corruption in the city. Cops looking the other way, projects running out of funding at inopportune moments, people that would swear they hadn't seen anything. Director Hearthrow was quite sure that his was perhaps the least corrupt governmental body in the city, even the parks department had shady deals going on.</p>
    <p>What that meant, was that a man calling himself Gentleman Marcone had an almost free reign of the city, with interdepartmental tension stopping him from acting against the one criminal organisation without obvious parahuman support.</p>
    <p>Sure, there were other groups active. Topsy was leading a group of smaller organizations, claiming to be the new king of the Folk. Bianca, leader of the local red court presence, was rapidly spreading her influence through the brothel industry of the city, and the Latin gangs had an ongoing civil war over who would lead them. His contacts within the Venatori Umbrum told him that the White Court was in possession of a rather large estate just outside the city, and a vampire of the Black Court had tried taking residence a while ago, before a Knight of the Cross had driven her off. But those were problems he could deal with. Marcone however, was practically immune to anything he could throw at the man.</p>
    <p>Until this whole Three-Eye affair at least. Marketed as an enhanced tinkertech drug, it was a magical substance that opened the Sight of anyone taking it, leading to extraordinary hallucinations that stayed with whoever was taking them. In addition to that, the creator was using thaumaturgy to murder his way through Marcone's people.</p>
    <p>Which meant he could start investigating these obviously parahuman murders in depth. If that meant he accidentally uncovered some rather problematic details regarding Marcone's operations, then nobody could blame him for going outside of his mandate.</p>
    <p>Of course, the man sitting in front of him had a completely different opinion about the whole deal.</p>
    <p>"Of course mister Marcone, but please understand that that is simply not how parahumans tend to operate. Why would anyone attempt to take down your business empire like that? Any Rogue would just be asking for attention from Watchdog, and villains are generally more varied, given that they tend to operate in teams. No, the most obvious possibility here is that someone is trying to take over your organization from within, eliminating your inner circle until they are at the top," Hearthrow lied. He was about ninety percent sure that the man responsible was a low-level sorcerer going by the unimaginative moniker Shadowman, and he had done everything he could to send the investigation into a different direction. It was a risk, but a calculated one. Sells would quickly burn out, or be caught by one of the White Council's Wardens. In the meantime, he could gather as much information as possible about Marcone's real organization.</p>
    <p>"You insult the honor of my men. This is an external threat to my life and my people and you know it. I don't care what you are insinuating about me. Ask the Chief of Police, ask the Mayor, ask anyone in the city but your merry band of lunatics and they will tell you that I am an upstanding citizen that has nothing to do with any of this," Marcone said, oddly calm for someone talking about a threat to his life.</p>
    <p>"I know, and I would never deign to insult your honor. I am simply doubting the integrity and moral values of your underlings," Hearthrow said, smiling at Marcone. Sure, Marcone was a hardass, but compared to director Costa-Brown, talking to him was almost relaxing.</p>
    <p>His phone flashed, and Hearthrow saw a sign flash on the screen of his computer.</p>
    <p>"I'm sorry sir, but I seem to have an active situation. If you wanted to talk some more, I'm afraid it will have to wait for another day," he said, leaving Marcone behind him</p>
    <p>Go ahead, he thought. Spy on my papers, it's not like I have tinkertech bugs monitoring every little thing you do in there.</p>
    <p>"What's happening?" he asked, as he met Shuffle standing in the hallway.</p>
    <p>"He's done it sir, the madman's actually done it!" Shuffle said, overly enthousiastic.</p>
    <p>"Explain?" Hearthrow asked.</p>
    <p>"The murderer, the guy producing the three-eye, Myrddin tracked him down right to his doorstep. Revel told me to inform you that she's going in, it seems like they're busy with some sort of ritual."</p>
    <p>Fuck. Sure, they'd caught their target. But they'd done so before Marcone's heart had been ripped out of his chest. Turns out there were negatives to having a Wizard in his employ as well. And if it came out that he'd been sending the investigation in the wrong direction… Well, there were ways around all of that. Perhaps, he could make the case look far more difficult than it had been, heaping praise on one of his newer team members? Myrddin was already proving to be ever more popular, a big mission like this could change him into a merchandising monster, giving the PRT more funds for their operations in the city.</p>
    <p>Yes, that would so, he would turn a negative in a positive. There were always other opportunities to investigate Marcone.</p>
    <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p>
    <p>
      <b>A few weeks before Leviathan</b>
    </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p>"Sir, I fixed your phone," Everett said, standing in front of his desk. The brown-haired boy seemed annoyed, probably because of Hearthrow's request that he repair a phone instead of work on tools that could smash skyscrapers into dust. Understandable. Ultimately though, him repairing phones was for the better. One of these days, he'd apply himself, and start figuring out a way to block Harry's effect.</p>
    <p>"Thank you Tecton, damned thing keeps breaking," Hearthrow replied.</p>
    <p>"About that sir," the young man said. "Stuff started breaking all around the office awfully close to Myrddin joining us, didn't it?"</p>
    <p>"I noticed that, yes. And given the way he dislikes technology, I believe Myrddin noticed it as well."</p>
    <p>"The thing is sir, you know how he keeps going on about how he's a wizard?" Tecton asked, catching Hearthrow's interest.</p>
    <p>"Please don't tell me you actually believe him do you?"</p>
    <p>"Well, it's… I tried to fix my stuff, make sure it didn't break down all that much, and the problem is that, you know…"</p>
    <p>"What is it Tecton?" he asked.</p>
    <p>"Well, at first I just used some basic techniques to make stuff hardier, make sure it wasn't mechanical failure, but every time I thought it was unbreakable, somehow the weakest link kept breaking," Tecton explained. "And, while I managed to reduce the rates of breakage, the effect remained."</p>
    <p>"Go on," Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>"Well, it's a bit silly, but… I guess you can open your phone?" Everett asked.</p>
    <p>Hearthrow looked at his newly fixed smartphone and opened it up with the little mechanism. Inside, he found some upgrades that Tecton had added to the design.</p>
    <p>"Is that… water-cooling? Are you sure that's necessary for a phone?"</p>
    <p>"That's the thing sir, it's a miniaturized water-cooling system, a microfluidic system designed for optimal grounding of energy. You know, heat and stuff. That, and… You can't really see them with the naked eye, but there's some stuff I etched into the circuitry-"</p>
    <p>"You used circles and flowing water, and the effect stopped," Hearthrow interrupted. "Just like how Myrddin's abilities are blocked by flowing water, and how he uses circles for some of his stuff."</p>
    <p>"Sir, I was wondering…" Tecton said.</p>
    <p>"If magic was actually real? If Myrddin is an actual wizard?" Hearthrow interrupted.</p>
    <p>"I mean, I know it sounds crazy sir, but it's just too much of a coincidence, what with the vampires in town and everything. Doesn't make sense if it was anything else, but the whole magic idea didn't make sense either."</p>
    <p>"Look Tecton, the thing is…" Hearthrow sighed, wondering whether or not he had the right to take the young man in front of him down the rabbit hole. Then again, Tecton already knew about the existence of horrible creatures, of Endbringers and supervillains. "The thing is that magic is very much real indeed."</p>
    <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p>
    <p>
      <b>A few days after Leviathan</b>
    </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p>"Sir, she can't be more than fifteen years old," Revel said as she stood before his desk. Stood, not sat, the woman was being angry and stubborn again.</p>
    <p>"Bank robbery, assaulting a charity event, involvement in a gang war. I'm sorry, Revel, but it doesn't look good," he replied.</p>
    <p>"She told Armsmaster she was going undercover," she said.</p>
    <p>"In a team with a Thinker Seven? And you believe that?" he continued.</p>
    <p>"I believe that those were her original intentions, yes. Later actions can be explained by the level of manipulation such a Thinker is capable of, as well as Armsmaster being, well, himself."</p>
    <p>"Armsmaster being himself?" he asked.</p>
    <p>"He's known for being rather abrasive, focused on his own achievements. He's not a people person, and not the kind of guy that could properly talk a teenage girl out of doing something stupid. Hell, he probably wanted her to do it, just to give him an advantage in the field."</p>
    <p>Hearthrow put down the file in his hand, and faked a sigh. He agreed with Revel's analysis, the Skitter girl probably wasn't going to be a problem beyond creating a panic whenever someone spotted her power in use. Revel, however, had a weak point when it came to children, so she needed someone to oppose her when it came to teenage villains, and teenagers in general. If it was up to her, juvenile hall would be replaced with a hug factory. He had to admit she had a point, up to a point. Criminals were usually criminals because of their situation, even parahuman ones. Unlike supernatural nasties, teenage supervillains could generally be rehabilitated with a steady hand and a few stern talking to's. A girl that had lost everything when fighting an Endbringer that was suddenly trying to be a hero? He couldn't have set up better Revel bait if he tried to.</p>
    <p>"What if it's a trap?" Hearthrow asked. "What if she's trying to lure us in?"</p>
    <p>"To what end?" Revel asked. "You think she's taken a turn for the worse? Gone from making money to kidnapping capes?"</p>
    <p>"Money wouldn't explain her attack on that fundraiser," Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>"Unless it was part of a larger operation, given that the reports say that two independent villains suddenly helped them out there. Plus, she did say she needed just a bit more information."</p>
    <p>"Information that she ended up never giving to Armsmaster. In fact, it seemed like she was part of the Undersiders until the end."</p>
    <p>"Except footage from the strategy meeting before Leviathan's attack showed that she was standing apart from her team," Revel said.</p>
    <p>"Fine..." Hearthrow sighed. "I'll accept her vigilantism as long as she behaves. You can tell your team that she's not a target."</p>
    <p>"Thank you sir, I'll inform everyone else."</p>
    <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p>
    <p>
      <b>The day of the full moon</b>
    </p>
    <p>"So, who got you that belt?" Hearhtrow asked the tied up Hexenwolf sitting in front of him. The interrogation room was dark, a single light hanging from the ceiling above the prisoner, and another floating just besides him. There was a one-way mirror hanging on the wall, but no-one observing behind it. If there was, Tattletale would have noticed.</p>
    <p>There was no response.</p>
    <p>"It was your superior officer, wasn't it? Dude came out of nowhere with magic belts, you decide it matches your purse?" the little drone, Tattletale, said.</p>
    <p>The Hexenwolf had an angry look on his face, and apparently, it was enough for Tattletale to make a conclusion.</p>
    <p>"Yup, it's his direct superior. The people above that don't know about it, and I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing," Tattletale continued.</p>
    <p>"What do you mean?" Hearthrow asked.</p>
    <p>"Well, they're not corrupt, they're just incompetent."</p>
    <p>"Tell me something I didn't know yet."</p>
    <p>"Hmmm. Lemme see. Our buddy here is annoyed at the general incompetence of his organization. He accepted the belt, in part, because his wife left him. No, wait, not wife. Boyfriend? Disease or broken relationship? Both? Wow, is he even dead yet?" Tattletale went on, somehow figuring out all the man's secrets just from his responses to her speculations.</p>
    <p>"Anything we can use?"</p>
    <p>"Sure, couple of things. His boss says he has a bigger plan, although they're not sure what the bigger plan is, and he's afraid there's no real plan. They're targeting criminals they couldn’t get to before, which means you should double-check for corruption in all the cases surrounding their previous targets. If they're panicking, that probably means they'll try to go out in a bang of glory, taking down Marcone. He's annoyed that I seem to be reading in mind, partially because of my criminal record, even though he thinks I'm one of Myrddin's constructs."</p>
    <p>"So what, he turns into a werewolf with a magic belt, but doesn't believe in ghosts?"</p>
    <p>"I'm wondering what he thinks about bigfoot…" Tattletale replied. "Quick question, is bigfoot real?"</p>
    <p>"The forest people exist, if that's what you're asking," Hearthrow replied.</p>
    <p>"Any of them passing as parahumans?"</p>
    <p>"Possibly, although most of them are reclusive and patient. They'll probably try to pass themselves off as one if found by a hunter."</p>
    <p>"Say, is it okay for us to talk about this stuff in front of this guy?" the dead girl asked.</p>
    <p>"Sure, why not? What's he going to do? Tell people that the director of the Chicago PRT believes in bigfoot?"</p>
    <p>"You've got a point there," the girl said. Obviously annoyed that she hadn't thought of it from that perspective.</p>
    <p>"So, back on topic. Can you get this guy to give up the location of their base of operations or something like that?"</p>
    <p>"Sure, easy-peasy.</p>
    <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p>
    <p>
      <b>The night of the full moon</b>
    </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p>Hearthrow looked at the ruined mansion, and smiled. Perhaps it wasn't very professional of him. After all, he was supposed to stop parahumans - and Loup-Garous - from bothering the good citizens of Chicago. Then again, this was Marcone's place, and it wasn't like the man was short on money.</p>
    <p>More interesting was the fact that the man's bodyguards had been rather well-armed. Wielding not just guns but a lot of the weapons that morning talk shows tended to describe as 'looking too scary to be legal'. Sure, they were more dangerous than what your grandmother used for self-defense, but compared to the weakest of parahumans? Then again, the PRT's propaganda department (or was it supposed to be PR? Was there a real difference?) was a lot better than the weapon industry's efforts.</p>
    <p>"Revel, report," he said to the exhausted looking woman.</p>
    <p>"Time-slows sir. The naked werewoman with the crazy eyes, she had a second trigger event that slows down time in an area for everything but the brain."</p>
    <p>"Which you used to slow down the larger werewolf. Good strategy. What else? The morning news is almost starting and we need to do damage control."</p>
    <p>"As theorized, the Hexenwolves tried to use the larger Wolf's berserk state to take down Marcone and his men. Made a damn good attempt at it too," she said, holding out a hand towards about two dozen corpses, littering the ground between the main battle site and Marcone's ruined mansion.</p>
    <p>"Myrddin almost managed to stop things from growing out of control, but the beast broke out of his banishment when the moon rose. I think we have the Hexenwolves foamed down, but they could've gotten killed in the chaos. The girl with the smiley-face mask is also related to our wolf couple over there somehow, and I'm pretty sure she's the one behind the wreckages we've been finding."</p>
    <p>"Do we have anything concrete?" Hearthrow asked.</p>
    <p>"Not really. She tracked the Hexenwolves here, and she helped out once it became clear that it wasn't Marcone that was responsible, but people trying to get him killed," she said, almost sad about it. Knowing her, she'd have wanted to catch the girl and force her into the Wards as her personal redemption project.</p>
    <p>"And what about the man of the hour?"</p>
    <p>"Defended himself until we managed to talk to him. He still insists he's an upstanding citizen that's the victim of character assassination. Doesn't matter that he's obviously up to something, given that he had like fifty armed men defending his manions. I don't think there's anything easy we can nail him for, but-"</p>
    <p>"But this entire thing could go very badly for his reputation, depending on the way we spin it. The werewolves, think we can recruit them?"</p>
    <p>"The man? Maybe, but if he has as little control as it seems, he'll be of very little use. The woman though? She's wild, and madly in love. Put a little pressure on her fiancé and she'll be on our side, but it's up to you whether you're willing to go there. I'm not looking forward to working together with someone there against her will, but we need all the reinforcements we can get what with the vampires gearing up."</p>
    <p>"Good. And one final question, why didn't you kill it?" he asked.</p>
    <p>"I tried," Revel responded. "But Myrddin stopped me. Deflected the killing strike into its leg. It worked out in the end, but..."</p>
    <p>"But that was a risk we knew about when we hired him. He's not the type to stand by and watch someone get killed, especially if he thinks they're innocent, or caught up in a bad situation. It is, however, something we need to keep an eye on. He's getting a lot of influence, especially with the Wards."</p>
    <p>"Agreed sir. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get out of my costume and into my pajamas. I've got a Gray's Anatomy DVD waiting on me," she said, half-joking. She was tired, at least mentally.</p>
    <p>"Go ahead Revel, on the condition that you in no way tell me about it later," he joked back, before making his way to the bloody naked couple.</p>
    <p>The two of them looked tired and devastated, and the woman was holding on to the man in a desperation. They'd gone through hell tonight, and just barely survived it.</p>
    <p>"Indecent exposure, trespassing, perhaps even jaywalking, that's quite a record you got there mister MacFinn," he said.</p>
    <p>"You'll have to forgive me for not laughing, I'm in a rather grim mood," Harley MacFinn replied. It was hard not to recognize the man. He was rather famous as a conservationist, campaigning for national parks, forests, and other such things. High Society being what it was, that meant the PRT Director was quite familiar with the man, exchanging small pleasantries at one event or another for the past few years. Besides him, the wolf lady was hugging his arm in a daze.</p>
    <p>"Yes, which is why I'm here," Hearthrow said. "Someone capable of a rampage like this every month is someone I need to keep an eye on."</p>
    <p>"Thrice a month," MacFinn replied. "It happens about three days in a row." Obviously, the man had decided honesty was the way to go here.</p>
    <p>"I see," he said. "And we haven't had any rampages before because?"</p>
    <p>"Because I had a solution. A containment device that kept me locked up."</p>
    <p>"I'm sure that's very comforting, but you're talking in the past tense here," Hearthrow said. As the conversation went on, Tera started glaring at him while one of his own troopers came along with a few emergency blankets to cover the two naked changers.</p>
    <p>"It broke, a regrettable accident. I was getting it repaired when some ruffians pretending to be FBI agents kidnapped me."</p>
    <p>"I'm afraid they weren't pretending to be," Hearthrow replied.</p>
    <p>"Hey, Finn, this guy bothering you?" a girl's voice called out. Hearthrow turned to see a girl with a metal mask approaching. She was on the younger side of teenage, fourteen or so if he had to guess, and she was trying to be intimidating with her stance, hands on her hips and head facing straight forward. If he had been your average trust fund baby, it might even have worked.</p>
    <p>"It's allright Mockshow, director Hearthrow and I were just having a talk," Harvey said as the girl came to stand at his side. The man put a hand on her shoulder, and whispered a quick thank you in her ear. Mockshow just looked happy the man was wearing an emergency blanket.</p>
    <p>"So, your containment circle, do you have a way to repair it?" Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>MacFinn looked partially shocked at the revelation that Hearthrow knew it was a circle that was involved in the containment.</p>
    <p>"I was hoping miss Parian would be able to help out, or perhaps one of your people if that doesn't work out?"</p>
    <p>Hearthrow nodded. "Yes, that does seem to be a practical solution. There is, however, the legal matter involved," he said, motioning towards the carnage.</p>
    <p>"Yes… I see… I presume that the courts won't accept my lack of control as an excuse?" Harvey said.</p>
    <p>"If it comes to that… it will depend on the lawyer and the jury, but if you look at other recent cases of people without as much control as they thought they had," Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>"You're referring to the Canary case," MacFinn said.</p>
    <p>"Yes, it's rather regrettable, the way the courts can turn on people."</p>
    <p>"In other words, it would be better for me if this didn't go to court..." MacFinn said. He looked angry, something Hearthrow understood. He was playing politics, and MacFinn's freedom was one of the pieces on the board.</p>
    <p>"It would, yes. Luckily, I don't think Marcone is going to try and take this to court, what with all the attention that would bring. Guns, grenade launchers, assault weapons, I'm not entirely sure all of this stuff here is legal…"</p>
    <p>"Meaning it is entirely up to you," Mockshow said, as she and miss West were getting more angry.</p>
    <p>"Meaning this is a situation in which I lost at least one of my men. Meaning that I'm going to have to tell his wife and children that he died on the job."</p>
    <p>"You know I had no choice in the matter…" MacFinn said.</p>
    <p>"What do you want?" West interrupted, baring her teeth.</p>
    <p>"You," Hearthrow replied, looking her in the eyes. "Or something else that I can use to convince my superiors this wasn't a total loss," he continued, moving his eyes from the woman to the girl.</p>
    <p>"Go fuck yourself," Mockshow said. West however, had a different reaction.</p>
    <p>"If I work for you, you will protect him?" she asked, looking at her fiancé.</p>
    <p>"I take care of my own," Hearthrow replied.</p>
    <p>"Very well," West said.</p>
    <p>"Good, we'll deal with the specifics later. For now, I have a crime boss to talk with," Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>Behind his back, he heard Mockshow make a rude remark. It didn't matter, he'd get his hands on her the moment they had something actionable on her, Revel would ensure it.</p>
    <p>In the meantime, he made his way towards Marcone, who was commanding his men, taking care of the wounded and removing the rubble.</p>
    <p>"Mister Marcone, how nice to meet you here," Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>"Director, it's been a while," Marcone smiled back.</p>
    <p>"Can't help but notice you've made a bit of a mess of things."</p>
    <p>"I've made a mess of things? It's your cape that tore down my golf course."</p>
    <p>"Well, if you insist, I can ask Shuffle to try and put everything back where he found it," Hearthrow suggested.</p>
    <p>"Or, you can keep your pet capes far away from me and mine," Marcone said. "If I remember correctly, your mandate covers parahuman crimes, not legitimate business opportunities."</p>
    <p>"That's correct," Hearthrow replied. "That said, I can't help but notice some weapons around here that might not be entirely legal in this state, and it's still my duty to inform the mundane police about them."</p>
    <p>"Of course, if you do such a thing, I'm afraid I'll have to inform some of my friends about your utter incompetence, allowing vigilantes and werewolves to assault me with impunity."</p>
    <p>"And if such a thing were to reach the news, people would start asking why exactly some FBI agents would try to take you down," Hearthrow countered.</p>
    <p>"And, of course, why there were werewolves in the FBI at all. They might even question whether or not it was because of the PRT's incompetence."</p>
    <p>"Seems to me then, that making this entire thing official would be a case of Mutually Assured Destruction," Hearthrow said, internally chastising himself for doing what he faulted his colleagues for doing, making deals with the devil.</p>
    <p>"That does seem to be the case, does it not?" Marcone replied.</p>
    <p>It was a good deal, for now. It meant this entire event didn't turn into the massive shitstorm it could be. However, it also meant that Marcone had something on him. In the case that he managed to take the man down, Marcone would be able to reply in kind, convincing people that the PRT was willing to let parahumans murder people if it meant being recruited. He'd have to move more carefully around the man from now on, and that was not something he looked forward to.</p>
    <p>The next time the FBI was being obstinate however, he had some new leverage to hold over them, perhaps some kind of oversight to make sure they correctly handled any 'parahuman' artefacts.</p>
    <p> </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p>
    <p>
      <b>Two days after Behemoth</b>
    </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p> </p>
    <p>Hearthrow looked at the children assembled in front of him.</p>
    <p>These weren't teenage gangsters he was intimidating into giving up information about their parahuman bosses. They weren't parahuman teenagers either, although they did have superpowers, for a given value of superpowers.</p>
    <p>The children assembled in front of him were faeries, or at least, half-faeries. Changelings, if he was correct.</p>
    <p>Sure, they hadn't told him that, but the signs were there nonetheless. The two girls both had green hair, and even the nervous and shy boy moved with a measure of grace most people didn't have.</p>
    <p>"So, why exactly did you want to join the Wards?" he asked, looking over the three teenagers.</p>
    <p>Unlike most new recruits, at least those who came of their own free will, they didn't immediately have an answer ready. Sure, most answers were just a "to be a hero, " or "because my parents won't let me go solo," but they were answers nonetheless.</p>
    <p>The Changelings however, were just nervously standing there, each of them waiting for the others to say something.</p>
    <p>Eventually, the big, tall girl, spoke up.</p>
    <p>"Well sir, there's these people that, you know, they keep harassing us. We used to have someone to protect us, someone strong enough to keep us safe on his own, but…" she stopped in the middle of the sentence, a recent wound then.</p>
    <p>"New Delhi," Hearthrow said. As far as he knew, there hadn't been anyone important that died in the local accident. Discounting Genoscythe.</p>
    <p>"He called himself Summer Knight," the girl said.</p>
    <p>"And now, you hope that by joining the Wards, you would be safe from whoever is after you," Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>"Yes sir," the girl said respectfully.</p>
    <p>"Which brings us to the most important question. Who's after you?" he asked.</p>
    <p>The three of them shut down, and the girl stopped talking. Apparently, it wasn't something they wanted to talk about. Or rather, something they thought they could talk about without being thought insane.</p>
    <p>"Let me guess, Lloyd Slate and his Winter Court cronies," he said, namedropping the individual being discussed. It made sense. The Summer Knight opposed the Winter Knight in all things. If these kids were afraid because the Summer Knight had died, then it was probably because the Winter Knight was the one they were afraid of.</p>
    <p>"I… You mean you…" the teenage boy said.</p>
    <p>"Know about the existence of the faerie courts? Yes, I do. It's my job to know that kind of thing."</p>
    <p>"So you'll help us?" the smaller girl asked.</p>
    <p>"It's complicated," Hearthrow answered. "After all, I can't afford to start some sort of war with the Winter Court, and I'm not sure the Queen will like it if I steal her subjects away."</p>
    <p>"You're saying…" the Changeling seemed to transform, their hope draining out of them.</p>
    <p>"I'm saying I can't accept Changelings into the Wards, because I can't endanger my organization like that," he said. "A bunch of teenage grab-bags from a group trigger however, that's a different thing."</p>
    <p>"What do you mean exactly, sir?" the larger girl asked.</p>
    <p>"What I mean is that I can accept you into the Wards, but I can't promise to keep you away from the Winter Court."</p>
    <p>"I'm not sure how that will help us sir," she said.</p>
    <p>Hearthrow sighed, and send a pre-written message from his phone. Several seconds later, heavy footsteps were audible outside of the office.</p>
    <p>"Director?" a voice called out as the door opened.</p>
    <p>"Tecton, come in. I'd like you to meet some possible new teammates," Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>Tecton was wearing a suit of heavy power armor thrice his own weight. Normally, he had it colored in a rusty-brown color scheme, with Brass highlights. Today however, he'd foregone the finishing coating, instead showing the titanium-iron alloy it was made out of to the world.</p>
    <p>"Good day everyone," Tecton said, while the Changelings were looking at Tecton, or more specifically, the massive amount of cold iron gathered around him.</p>
    <p>"So, we've got a small problem. The Winter Knight seems to like harassing these young Changelings, and the Summer Knight didn't make it out of New Delhi," Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>"And you're offering them protection? You told me it was a bad idea to meddle in the affairs of the Faerie," Tecton replied.</p>
    <p>"Correct, which is why I'm not specifically offering protection from Winter in return for joining the Wards," Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>"I see," Tecton replied. The boy had done a lot of learning in his few years in the Wards.</p>
    <p>"I'm afraid I don't," the boy said.</p>
    <p>"It's pretty simple. If he offered you protection from Winter, he'd involve himself in the affairs of Winter, which could come back to hurt us big time, especially since most of the Protectorate and the PRT aren't really in the know," Tecton explained. "However, if he offered you a job where you spend a very large amount of time near people like me and Cuff-"</p>
    <p>"Plausible deniability," the boy said.</p>
    <p>"In a way, yes. That way it's less deliberately choosing to protect you as a specific group, and more us protecting our own. But you've got the gist of it …" Tecton trailed of.</p>
    <p>"Fix," the Changeling said, giving up his name.</p>
    <p>"And you two?"</p>
    <p>" Meryl" the taller girl said.</p>
    <p>"Lily," a soft voice came from the smaller girl.</p>
    <p>" So, how'd you get your powers, and what exactly are they?" Tecton asked.</p>
    <p>"We're changelings, we have them from our parents," Meryl said.</p>
    <p>"No," Tecton said. "You're parahumans, here to join the Wards. So how'd you get them, and what are they?"</p>
    <p>"I was thinking group trigger," Hearthrow said. "Explains that there's three of them, and that they're grab-bags."</p>
    <p>"Four," Lily said.</p>
    <p>"Ace disagreed, he didn't want to come along," Meryl explained.</p>
    <p>"Are you sure group triggers will work? Aren't they usually enemies? I mean, that's what the guy in the 103 course said," Tecton asked.</p>
    <p>"It's fluid enough that people won't ask too much, we're talking back-up plan anyway. Something to tell the other Wards."</p>
    <p>"Then it's probably best to keep it both simple and relatively true," Tecton said.</p>
    <p>"A trigger event… I think we have some stuff worthy of those," Meryl said.</p>
    <p>"Good, just make sure you're all on the same page there. Now for the good part, powers," Tecton continued.</p>
    <p>"I'm half Troll," Meryl said. "So, Brute I guess."</p>
    <p>"My mother was a Nixie," Lily said, nervously intertwining her fingers. "I can sing pretty well, but nothing like her."</p>
    <p>"So, minor master effect? Which is probably better than a major one, given the problems a singing master can get into," Hearthrow said.</p>
    <p>"Fucking bullshit, that entire case," Tecton replied.</p>
    <p>"Fix?" Hearthrow asked.</p>
    <p>"I uhm… I can repair cars," he said. "And I guess I can do some glamours. I'm not very good at them though."</p>
    <p>"That, plus what I assume is at least some form of supernatural agility?" Hearthrow asked.</p>
    <p>"A bit," Fix said. " Not much though. I've got two very graceful left feet."</p>
    <p>"Doesn't matter, we'll think of something. People tend not to look beyond the obvious, and if necessary, I can build you something that might help you out. Remember, most people won't think twice about a parahuman with lackluster powers, they'll just be happy you're not a new Nillbog," Tecton reassured the boy.</p>
    <p>Hearthrow smiled. If all went right, he'd have his hands on three new Wards, without having to resort to making deals with Winter. At least, he hoped it'd work out. If not, however, he always had the nuclear option. The best part of being the director of Department #4, instead of just being another member of the Venatori Umbrum, was that he was only a phone call away from Protectorate back-up. No, scratch that. Triumvirate back-up.</p>
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<a name="section0010"><h2>10. Ghost-Hunting: Skitter</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>"So, while the light is still green right now, you should still try to anticipate and figure out what you'll do of it turns yellow," Michael said. "That way, you won't be faced with indecision if it does.<br/><br/>"It's not going to turn yellow, there's no cars in the other directions," I replied, keeping my hands firmly on the steering wheel.<br/><br/>"Agreed, but what if there's less visibility and you don't know whether or not there's other traffic?" he said.<br/><br/>"I'm using my bugs, I always-" I responded.<br/><br/>"Cheater!" the nun in the back seat interrupted happily.<br/><br/>"I'm the cheater? We're not even touching the ground when you drive! You don't even make corners like a normal person!" I jabbed back at her. Risen, formerly known as Rune, just smiled at me, far too happy with her power-applied driving skills.<br/><br/>"Eyes on the road!" Michael said.<br/><br/>"I literally have at least for thousand eyes on the road right now!" I replied.<br/><br/>"And unless you're in costume, the cops don't know that," he said. "And take a left here."<br/><br/>"But Fugly Bob's is to the East!" Risen complained.<br/><br/>"I didn't know nuns were allowed to say that word," I said as I readied myself for the next turn. A quick check with my bugs told me that the coast was clear, except for something moving in our direction from the edge of my range.<br/><br/>"Let's take a quick break," Michael suddenly said after our turn, and I parked the car, using my bugs to ensure I stayed in the lines of the parking spot. If Michael Carpenter suddenly wanted you to stop driving, it was probably a good idea.<br/><br/>"But I'm hungry," Risen complained.<br/><br/>"The Lord will provide," Michael replied, and I wasn't entirely sure whether it was a joke or not. Knowing him, a Taco truck could appear out of nowhere at any moment.<br/><br/>As we left the car, I felt the presence come closer. I couldn't figure out the exact shape, but from what I'd seen of her, this was probably Mockshow, riding one of her minions.<br/><br/>Not a minute later, my suspicions we confirmed, and a panicked looking Mockshow, wearing civvies and her mask, came around the corner on a twisted car wreck. I saw that she'd used the rubber of the wheels as padding for the legs, and the upholstery of the seats as cushioning.<br/><br/>"Mister Carpenter!" she yelled, and I managed to cover myself in bugs before she came close enough to see my face. One of these days, I'd figure out a veil to hide it, but until that point, I'd have to rely on liberal application of bees. Both Michael and Catherine had no secret identity, for different reasons, but I didn't want Chicago's biggest hooligan to have confirmation of my identity if I could help it.<br/><br/>"What's wrong Oli... Mockshow?" Michael asked with an eye on me and Risen. Did he know Mockshow personally?<br/><br/>"Well... You know that old mansion a few miles north of here? The one people think is haunted?" she said.<br/><br/>"I know the one... What did you girls do this time?" Michael asked, a worried look on his face. You girls? Was Mockshow part of a group somehow? If so, I hadn't been notified. I'd have to ask Tattletale about it.<br/><br/>"Well... Turns out it's actually haunted!" Mockshow said.<br/>"Define haunted," I said. I'd read up on a bit of everything the last few months, and ghosts were one of the things I'd studied. The problems with ghosts, I knew, was that there were so very many different types of them. While all of them were, generally speaking, the psychic footprint of a dead person, Tattletale was a very good example of the rules not applying. Weaker ghosts were just phantoms, while more powerful spirits could take on substantial forms, drawing forth ectoplasm to form a body, and interacting with the mortal realm.<br/><br/>A Wraith was one type of special ghost. Without purpose of memories, a wraith was an empty spirit that devoured other shades in order to grow. Once grown enough, a wraith could gain the power it needed to interact with people, as well as with other spirits. Weak of will and relatively mindless, the books Ebenezar had lend me had told me of practitioners using wraiths as spiritual attack dogs, throwaway minions that could wreak general havoc.<br/><br/>More dangerous were the Lemurs. Rather than losing their mind, Lemurs were ghosts that had chosen to go evil, and were an order of magnitude more dangerous than Wraiths, mostly because they were active participants in battle.<br/><br/>Lemurs, however, were almost nothing compared to Specters. More powerful, and often dangerously insane, Specters hunted down and killed people. Like serial killers, but dead. Not entirely coincidence, because many serial killers left Specters behind.<br/><br/>Making all of that more complicated, was the fact that those categories weren't really natural law or anything. Strength and other such things varied between ghosts, with age making a spirit more and more powerful. That was, apparently, one of the reasons that ancient Indian burial grounds were so haunted. Not because the spirits were crazy or aggressive, but because they were old.<br/><br/>"Like I said, Haunted. Ghosts," Mockshow said.<br/><br/>"Spectral appearances? Moving objects? Cold air? Strange noises?" I asked, trying to be more clear.<br/><br/>"Yes!" Mockshow said, very helpfully.<br/><br/>"Is anyone in danger?" Michael asked, skipping ahead to the part he thought was important.<br/><br/>"Don't know… Everyone got out, but Judy's not responding to anything… She's not hurt or anything, just… I don't know…" Mockshow said.<br/><br/>Michael glanced in my direction. "Can you take a look?" he asked.<br/><br/>"I'll try, but, I can't promise anything," I replied.<br/><br/>"Good," he nodded, and I went back to the car, I saw him walk towards Mockshow. "And you…" he said, almost threateningly, before putting a hand on her shoulder. "Need to install blinkers on that mount of yours. It's a safety hazard like this."<br/><br/>"Yes sir," Mockshow replied, being rather uncharacteristically polite.<br/><br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/><br/>The MacMorgain manor was an old, dilapidated wooden mansion, half the wood rotting, the other half already rotted away. If you asked the people around here why it had been abandoned for so long, they'd probably give you a hundred different explanations. Perhaps they would tell you that it's part of a financial scam by a rich businessman trying to evade taxes, or perhaps there was industrial pollution and re-building anything here would be too expensive. The true reason however, was readily apparent. The place was haunted, and from the feeling of it, it was haunted by a powerful ghost.<br/><br/>Standing outside the front gate, my bugs covered the entire estate. A small wood, with a pond that approximated a swamp, three stories, each of them filled to the brim with spiders and cobwebs, and a cellar filled with…<br/><br/>I had to admit, I wasn't entirely sure of it, and I surely hoped it was something else. But from what my bugs told me… the cellar was filled with small bones. Human bones. Children's bones. What the hell had happened here? From what I could feel, the cellar was locked away from view to people, except for a hole in a plank on the first floor, torn by what must have been Mockshow's mount.<br/><br/>"Place gives me the creeps… And I've seen Cricket's trophy room," Risen said, standing next to me.<br/><br/>"I… I think it's actually even worse than you think," I replied.<br/><br/>In the corner of my eyes, I could see mister Carpenter talking to a blonde girl with a with dyed streaks in her hair. He seemed to be disappointed, while she was angry. It kind of reminded me of discussion with my dad. Was that how Mockshow knew Carpenter? Was she friends with his daughter? Small world, the Chicago cape scene. Then again, I'd somehow known Shadow Stalker's civilian persona as well.<br/><br/>"Skitter?" Michael said, his voice suddenly reaching our ears, even though he wasn't yelling. He had a good voice for stuff like that.<br/><br/>I walked towards them, my mask now attached firmly too my face, and my new cloak covering my body. Inspired by Harry's design, combined with the official apprentice robes he'd shown me. Made out of bleached light-grey silk, the cloak's hood covered my face, and stopped just above my knees, with sleeves protecting my arms. The front was open, normally allowing anyone to see my armor as Skitter, but right now just showing any onlookers a shirt from an obscure hipstery band that Lisa liked. She'd ordered the shirt before realizing she wouldn't be able to wear it, and somehow it'd made its way into my closet.<br/><br/>Besides being made from black widow silk, my cloak also contained inscriptions similar to those Harry used to reinforce his gear, and whereas before I had simply assumed I would be largely bulletproof, right now I was sure certain of it, one of the PRT-troopers had helped me test it.<br/><br/>Next to Michael, leaning against a car, sat the victim in question. A girl only a year or two younger than me, Judy looked pale, and she was sweating with her eyes closed. I went into a squat beside her, and opened up my senses. Not too much, not fully using my sight, but enough to get a bit of a read on the magic in the area.<br/><br/>One of the… disadvantages, I'd noticed since getting rid of the binding was that my senses extended so far. In this case, that meant that I could sense, for lack of a better word, what was happening in the old mansion, as well as what had happened to Judy.<br/><br/>The mansion itself was steeped in darkness and blood, and I got a quick look at it before making my bugs retreat, thus protecting me from what was in there. Given my general luck, the ghost responsible for whatever had spooked Mockshow was probably the person responsible for the corpses hidden in the basement.<br/><br/>Once I could no longer see inside the mansion, having evacuated the spiders, flies, cockroaches and other crawling things within the rotting wood, I fully opened my third eye, and took a good luck at Judy.<br/><br/>She was… not as carefree as I'd expected her to be. Her general condition reminded me somewhat of myself, but instead of school, it had been her home life she had not been happy about, and she had found an escape of sorts with her friends. Right now however, it looked like someone had taken a knife to her, slicing through her eyes, and leaving seeping wounds across her body. Metaphorical wounds, but wounds nonetheless. However, the damage was largely superficial, something she would eventually recover from, I was pretty sure. The worst was already over, and she had friends here to take care of her.<br/><br/>Which left whatever had done this to her. I closed my third eye, trying not to think about Harry calling it my ninth, and looked up only to see a small horde of teenage girls surrounding me. Just for a second, I thought back to the last time this happened, outside of mister Gladly's class. This time however, they weren't here to hurt me. Instead, they wanted my help.<br/><br/>"She's hurt, mentally, but she'll recover. Get her some hot coco, hold a slumber party or something, and stay close to her," I said, and I saw the relief spread on their faces. Strangely enough, I couldn't exactly share those feelings. I wasn't quite sure what I was feeling. Jealousy? Heart-ache?<br/><br/>"Skitter, any advice on this ghost thing?" Michael asked.<br/><br/>I stepped away from the girls. Somehow, even though they weren't that much younger than me, I didn't feel like this was something to say where they could hear it. When I'd limited my audience to Michael, Risen and Mockshow however, that feeling seemed to disappear.<br/><br/>"Something happened in this place. My bugs found children's bones in a hidden basement, and I'm afraid it's just as bad as that sounds. Good thing is, they're old, all the flesh long removed. Bad thing is, that means that whoever is responsible for this, has been dead for a long time."<br/><br/>"Isn't that a good thing?" Risen asked.<br/><br/>"Not exactly… Ghosts tend to get stronger over time, and I'm guessing it's been a couple decades here," I explained.<br/><br/>"So, big strong ghost. Sounds like a problem. How do we hit it?" Mockshow asked.<br/><br/>"You don't. I do," Michael said. "Skitter, how sure are you that the culprit and the ghost are linked?"<br/><br/>"Without knowing anything about the case? It's possible it's one of his victims, but I don't think the attack on Judy matches up with them. It was a girl getting mauled, not an abusive adult," I replied.<br/><br/>"I see…" Michael said, before becoming silent for a few seconds. Was he saying a quick prayer?<br/><br/>"Risen, you're covering the back-line. Be ready to evacuate everyone here if this goes sideways. Mockshow, I need you to send your minion along with me, I might need something to quickly break through rotting wood. Skitter, you're on overwatch. Make sure nothing sneaks up on us, and see if you can try to make sure of the spirit's identity. Also, help out Mockshow with controlling her minion, and help out in communication."<br/><br/>"Yes sir!" Risen said suddenly turning professional. Well, assisting Michael in missions was actually her job, so it made sense in a way.<br/><br/>"You need help with your minions?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Mostly line of sight," Mockshow said. "I can control them, just don't really know what they're seeing if I can't see it. Can't see through their eyes, not that they have them. Stuff like that."<br/><br/>"You ever try installing cameras on it?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Not really, that shit's expensive…"<br/><br/>"Weren't you hanging out with a millionaire werewolf or something?"<br/><br/>"Good point…" Mockshow replied. "I'll ask mister Carpenter about it. How'd you meet him anyway? I know you're a fucking biblical plague in human form and everything, but you never struck me for overly religious."<br/><br/>"He's a friend of Myrddin's," I replied. "It's a wizard thing."<br/><br/>"Right…" Mockshow replied. Whatever else, she probably wasn't entirely convinced about the existence of magic. "Love the cloak by the way, but why isn't it red?"<br/><br/>"Why would It be red?" I asked. Was she referring to me being overly violent or something?<br/><br/>"Red riding hood? You fought those small werewolf guys right?" Mockshow replied.<br/><br/>"Hexenwolves, yeah," I replied, as Michael was making his way up the lane towards the mansion, sword in hand, softly glowing. I made my bugs enter the mansion again, and grabbed an energy-seeing charm, softly chanting the words I needed to make invisible energies visible. Slightly more advanced than the one I had used for radiation back in New Delhi, this one allowed me to get what could best be described as a three-dimensional map of energy around me. Heat, electricity, heavy chemical potential like in batteries or gasoline, that sort of thing. I'd shown it to Harry, and when he tried it, he said it gave him far too much of a headache. Ebenezar, who had come by for some business in the city he wouldn't tell us about, had used it without many problems, and after discussing it with Tattletale, they'd decided it probably had something to do with my Shard allowing me to process ludicrous amounts of data, something Harry's mind was not yet capable of. Susan however, had decided it was because men couldn't multitask.<br/><br/>Seeing Michael work however, was impressive. He didn't prepare, didn't take a sneaky path in. He simply walked up to the front door, slammed it open, and didn't flinch as it fell to the ground afterwards.<br/><br/>He walked forward, stood in the middle of the room, and spoke.<br/><br/>"Show yourself," he said, energy blazing forth from his holy blade.<br/><br/>Within seconds, I felt the darkness surrounding the old mansion come together, a half-solid shape congealing in front of Michael, a short knife in its hands, and what looked like…<br/><br/>The ghost, specter, wraith, whatever that was standing in front of Michael was missing half its face, slowly seeping ectoplasm from what must have been a burn. It was a ghost with a wound, but in addition to that, it was a wounded ghost. What looked like barbed wire, made out of the foulest black, was wound around it's torso, cutting into it with every movement.<br/><br/>Michael's blade flared up even more, containing a near limitless amount of energy, and he held it out in front of him. The ghost lept forward, knife at the ready, slashing at his enemy with the spectral blade.<br/><br/>Almost without even trying, Michael sidestepped the mad specter's attack, hitting him in the back of the head with his pommel as he passed the knight. Michael turned around, two-handing the sword and bringing it over his head, ready to split the mad ghost cleanly in two. The ghost, whoever it was, responded by melting through the floor, reappearing in his psycho-killer basement.<br/><br/>"Break through the floor," Michael commanded, and as I relayed his orders to Mockshow, I spelled a message out on the floor in front of him. The basement is his place of power.<br/><br/>Michael read it, but ignored it. Given the absurd amount of strength in his blade, I could see why he wasn't worried about a single ghost. Or perhaps, it was because the amount of danger didn't matter, and he would've gone down there anyway.<br/><br/>Mockshow's mount smashed a hole through the floor, and jumped down, landing on wooden splinters. Less than a second later, Michael followed, blade in hand.<br/><br/>Again, the specter lunged at him with its knife, but this time, Michael caught its hand in his own, the blade just between two fingers. Then, holding on to the spirit, he brought down his blade, vanquishing his enemy.<br/><br/>Slowly, I could feel the energy surrounding the old mansion start dissipating, clearing up the air after a thunderstorm, so to speak.<br/><br/>"I think it's done," I said.<br/><br/>"Well, that was awfully anticlimactic then…" Mockshow replied.<br/><br/>"What do you mean?"<br/><br/>"Well, you know… I was thinking, maybe a big light-show or something? Or the mansion falling apart now that it's dark master has been destroyed?"<br/><br/>"Don't say that! That's just asking for something bad to happen," Risen said.<br/><br/>"What, you mean like someone using some sort of enchantment to rile up an old spirit and make it attack people?" I replied.<br/><br/>"See Mockshow? See what dark tidings your actions have wrought?" Risen said.<br/><br/>"Dark tidings, really?" Mockshow replied.<br/><br/>"I'm trying to be more, you know, theatrical and shit. You know, Thou shalt not instead of You shouldn't."<br/><br/>"Guess it fits the outfit. Why do you wear that anyway? I'm pretty sure Halo doesn't dress like a nun."<br/><br/>"First of all, Halo is a baptist, I'm Catholic. Second, because it's fucking cute?" Risen replied, twirling around in place to show off her skirts.<br/><br/>Cute Nazi Nuns with superpowers, just what I needed in my life.<br/><br/>"So… what do we do now?" Mockshow asked.<br/><br/>"Continue driving? I need to complete my fifty hours so I can get my provisional," I said.<br/><br/>"So, do they put, like, a little picture of a spider on there?" she asked.<br/><br/>"I'm not quite sure," I admitted. "How about you?"<br/><br/>"Technically counts as a horse," she said, waving her arm towards the mansion, from which her metal minion was returning. "I can ride anywhere on the public roadways, excepting expressways and some highways."<br/><br/>"You don't need a license for that?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Nope, I could even text and drive if I wanted to!"<br/><br/>"Don't," I said.<br/><br/>Risen and Mockshow went silent, and we waited until Michael returned from the mansion, having climbed up the rubble path left behind by the construct.<br/><br/>"Skitter, can you inform the PRT about what happened?" he asked.<br/><br/>"Sure," I said, suddenly remembering my conversation with Revel three months ago. Would Revel get angry about this?<br/><br/>"And tell Revel I asked for your help, that should get her off your back," he continued.<br/><br/>I hoped it would work, but I wasn't entirely sure about it. Plus, I'd have to figure out what exactly was going on that made this spirit go crazy all of a sudden, because I did not believe that Mockshow and her crew were the first people ever to enter this old place. Something had changed, and that something had been done intentionally. By whom? For what reason? How? I didn't know, but with Harry's help and a combination of Bob and Lisa, I had everything I needed to figure out just what was going on.</p>
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<a name="section0011"><h2>11. Ghost-Hunting:Victoria</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><strong><em>2 days before Halloween</em></strong><br/><br/>"I'm just saying, there's solutions beyond punching," Tattletale said.<br/><br/>"Theoretically speaking, I agree. But there being other solutions does not mean that punching is not the best solution," Victoria replied, demonstrating her point by touching the tips of her ghost-dust infused boxing gloves together.<br/><br/>"Pfft, typical meathead"<br/><br/>"At least I have a head. Tell me, were you actually smart before you got your power?"<br/><br/>"Says the girl whose main power is never getting acne."<br/><br/>"Are you jealous of my perfect skin, or of skin in general?"<br/><br/>"Low blow Gloryhole, low blow."<br/><br/>"How could it be a low blow? We're two thousand feet of the ground!"<br/><br/>"Yeah, about that…" Tattletale said. "Why are we looking for ghosts in the sky again?"<br/><br/>"Because everyone else is down below," Victoria replied, pointing to the city below them, a hand held down to stop the glare of the sun, reflecting from the roof of a nearby skyscraper. In the distance, she could see the massive concrete containment unit, holding Genoscythe's remains. City government was still debating what to do about it, with ideas ranging between transporting them away with trucks, to burning them, to waiting until someone with the right power came along to help out. For now, Tecton's air-tight megastructure kept the rotting meat from polluting the area. "Basic flyer tactics, start in the places where no-one else can go. It'll give you a good overview, and a perspective that others do not have."<br/><br/>"Yeah, except it's daytime, and we're looking for ghosts," Tattletale said. "Ghosts don't fly two thousand feet above the city."<br/><br/>"Look in the mirror will you," Victoria replied. "Anyway, I haven't seen you come up with a better idea."<br/><br/>"What about waiting until nightfall? When the spirits actually come out?"<br/><br/>"Problem with that," Vicky said. For a high-level Thinker, Tattletwat could be such an idiot. "You're a ghost, you're here now."<br/><br/>"Because I have a sanctum. Something I can use to protect me from the sun. In case you hadn't noticed, I'm the only one of my kind flying around."<br/><br/>"So, where do the other ghosts go? Do they just disappear during the day, or are they in their own sanctums?"<br/><br/>"Natural sanctums, places to hide… Graveyards, that sort of thing," Tattletale said.<br/><br/>"So, why are we not checking out those places?" Victoria asked her.<br/><br/>"Good question, actually. Probably cultural impetus, letting the dead rest, that sort of thing."<br/><br/>"But, since the entire problem is that the dead aren't resting anymore," she said.<br/><br/>"So, you want to go around looking for the restless dead?"<br/><br/>"You happen to see any graveyards?"<br/><br/>"Well, I know where they are, which is what you mean," Tattletale said, being her wonderful obnoxious Thinkery self.<br/><br/>"Then let's go!"<br/><br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/><br/>"Hey, wanna hear a joke?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>"Around here? really?" Tattletale answered.<br/><br/>"So a flying superhero and a mechanical Thinker are floating through a graveyard."<br/><br/>"Cemetery"<br/><br/>"What's the difference?"<br/><br/>"Graveyard is attached to a church, it's the yard of a church, with graves in it. This place isn't attached to one, so it's a cemetery," Tattletale explained.<br/><br/>"This your power again?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>"No… I…I did some research on the topic a while ago, felt rather relevant to my situation," the floating orb said.<br/><br/>"I see…" Victoria replied.<br/><br/>She didn't like the Thinker, never had, on account of their drastically different ways of approaching a problem. Victoria was a Brute. Not a brute, but most definitely a Brute. Sure, her aura played a role in what she did, but strength, a forcefield and flight were her bread and butter. If she compared it to Tattletale, who relied on misdirection, hidden knowledge, and she had to admit, preparation.<br/><br/>Once, she'd been angry at the girl. Angrier than had been reasonable. Sure, the girl had robbed a bank, and used her power in the process. Doing that was bad. However, Tattletale had done so with a mental power, a Thinker power that worked through psychological, rather than physical, warfare. A power that did damage that Amy could not heal.<br/><br/>But, while that specific interplay might have hurt, it was not Tattletale's fault that she had a power that was specifically useful for psychological attacks. She'd been working with the tools she had, and those tools happened to be ones that penetrated through forcefields.<br/><br/>Seeing someone die fighting an Endbringer, seeing them fight it even though they were a pure Thinker, it forced you to put someone's behavior in a new perspective. Especially when that person suddenly turned up a few days later, having returned from the dead as a not-quite-ghost.<br/><br/>"So, you were telling a joke," Tattletale said.<br/><br/>"I was kind of hoping I'd think of something while telling it," Victoria admitted.<br/><br/>"I knew that," Tattletale said. "You know, being psychic and everything."<br/><br/>"You're not, psychics don't exist."<br/><br/>"Really Vicky? Really?"<br/><br/>The smugness almost radiated from the tiny blue orb. If tiny blue orbs could radiate feelings. Given magic, they probably could.<br/><br/>"What?"<br/><br/>"I mean, come on. I may not be psychic myself, but the idea that psychic's are impossible is preposterous. I mean, sure, the average brain isn't smart enough to decode other people's neural signals in real time, but someone like Alexandria or Accord? I mean, it's ridiculous to claim anything of the sort, let alone when we bring magic into this. Given what I already know, Taylor's going to learn telepathy in the future, whether you like it or not."<br/><br/>"Yeah, right, and you know better than…" Victoria was about to finish her sentence, when she remembered who she was talking to. "I have to admit, you probably do know better than some frumpy idiot with a degree at Brockton Bay University College."<br/><br/>"See? That wasn't so hard now was it?"<br/><br/>"You're pushing it Tattletale," Victoria said, evading a few tastefully placed trees that provided shade to the long rows of graves. The place they'd decided to inspect was rather nice, with large amounts of greenery among the graves, and tasteful decorations on top of them. It looked expensive, and old, which meant it was probably filled to the brim with evil spirits, what with them having been both rich, and dead for a hundred years or so.<br/><br/>"Lisa," Tattletale suddenly said.<br/><br/>"What?"<br/><br/>"Call me Lisa. I mean, my secret identity got spilled when Leviathan smashed me into tiny little chunks."<br/><br/>"No, I mean, wasn't it Sarah?" Victoria asked. Sarah, after all, had been the name mentioned in the obituary.<br/><br/>"Long story," Sarah, or Lisa, replied.<br/><br/>"Hate your parents?"<br/><br/>"Okay, short but more nuanced."<br/><br/>"You want to talk about it?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>"Not really," Lisa replied. "Although…"<br/><br/>"Something wrong?" Vicky asked, floating around the graves, looking for, for lack of a better term, disturbances.<br/><br/>"I've been wondering… I made sure my real name would come out once I died. Some sort of final fuck you to my mother, you know? Except…"<br/><br/>"Except apparently, they didn't give a shit, even when you died."<br/><br/>"Exactly," Lisa said. "I mean, it's not like my power didn't tell me already, but…"<br/><br/>Lisa sighed, inasmuch as she could still sigh, and Victoria had to admit, she felt bad for the girl.<br/><br/>"I… I'd say I'm sorry, but I have no idea how you're feeling. I mean, I sure as hell have been angry with my parents, but that was about them caring too much. Even my father, given his condition."<br/><br/>"You wanna talk about it?" Lisa asked.<br/><br/>"Well, it's not like you don't already know anyway, right?"<br/><br/>"A bit… somewhat… I mean, most of what I do is bluffing and making shit up as I go along," Lisa said.<br/><br/>"Wait, really? Fuck… I did not expect that. I mean, you always seemed like you really had your shit together."<br/><br/>"Well, that's the trick isn't it? Fake it till you make it, like you do with your invincibility."<br/><br/>"Still bullshit how you saw through that so quickly."<br/><br/>"Why thank you!" Lisa replied.<br/><br/>"So, back to work. Ghost stuff, you see anything?" Vicky asked.<br/><br/>"Somewhat… The stuff laid to rest here, it's strong. Stronger than usual. Something I've been feeling myself. Whatever's been happening het last few days, it's affecting the barrier between the living and the dead or something. The ghosts, the ones driven mad by that barbed wire Taylor described? Us being busy with them is an ancillary benefit. If my assumptions here are right, someone is riling up the ghosts of Chicago in order tear at the wall. I'd have to check with Harry and some other sources, but it seems to me like the goal is weakening that barrier, in order to make all ghosts in the city stronger. I just can't figure out why, because I have no idea who could be behind this."<br/><br/>"Make all ghosts stronger? Or is that Ancillary too?"<br/><br/>"What, you think they're looking for a specific ghost?"<br/><br/>"I mean, it makes sense, I think. You don't hear a lot about good guy ghosts outside of Casper, so if you rile up the spirits to make all ghosts stronger, everyone involved in the people-not-horrifically-dying business is kept busy with ghosts that keep increasing in strength. But like you said, it's probably not a direct attack, so I'm guessing that whoever is behind this is trying to make a specific ghost stronger instead, and all of this chaos is just a side benefit."<br/><br/>"Good point Gloryhole," Lisa said.<br/><br/>Annoying as she was, Victoria had the idea that she was starting to figure the girl out, at least partially. Part of that, was that Lisa always wanted to get the last words in, put the finishing touches on the plan. She was the smart one. Hell, her entire power was being the smart one, the girl that knew stuff others didn't, the girl that could figure out your secrets in half a minute or less. Someone else coming up with a better idea than she had? That was annoying. Someone else taking her information and turning it into something she hadn't thought about? That was something that really annoyed the little flaptrap. Which meant that there were two things she could do right now. She could play into it, make a snide remark back at the girl, and return to their regularly scheduled bitch-off, or she could be the bigger person. Which, given the fact that Lisa was currently inhabiting a tiny drone, wasn't very difficult.<br/><br/>"So, what are you doing for Halloween?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Halloween? Fuck… of course, why didn't I think about that?"<br/><br/>"Think about what, your costume?" Vicky asked.<br/><br/>"No, I mean, it can't be coincidence someone's riling up the ghosts right around Halloween, right? I mean, it could be, but we can't afford to assume it is."<br/><br/>"Right, so we're looking for a super-ghost pretending it's someone else?"<br/><br/>"I don't think so, but… I don't really know enough about the spiritual significance of Halloween. I mean, there's so many different stories, I have absolutely no idea which one is true."<br/><br/>"Doesn't your power work there?"<br/><br/>"Not really. I mean, to really get going, I need to make sure I'm not working from faulty premises, and that's the entire problem here."<br/><br/>"So, got any insight on what we can do right no?" Victoria asked.<br/><br/>"Not really. I mean, cemeteries are nice and all, but…"<br/><br/>"But all the other ghosts are sleeping?"<br/><br/>"Wouldn't call it sleeping, but yes."<br/><br/>"So, find the ones that are, like, least sleepy?"<br/><br/>"Sure… I'll give it a try."<br/><br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/><br/>"Really? Really!?" Victoria yelled.<br/><br/>"Well, you have to admit, he is kind of hot," Tattletale answered.<br/><br/>"Eeeek!" the girl yelled.<br/><br/>"What the fuck!" the guy chimed in.<br/><br/>"Yes, that's what you were doing!" Tattletale said, her voice filled with absolute glee.<br/><br/>"On a fucking grave! What would your mother think?" Victoria yelled out.<br/><br/>"I think his mother thinks he can do better, but that's it nice that he brought his new girlfriend around to meet her," Tattletale continued.<br/><br/>"That's his mother's grave!?" Victoria yelled.<br/><br/>What the fuck kind of degenerate would take his girlfriend to the cemetery, only to do it on his mother's…<br/><br/>"Well, no. But the look on your face is amazing," Lisa said calmly. "I should ask Tecton for a camera."<br/><br/>"Where are my pants!" the guy screamed.<br/><br/>"Your mother is dead?" the girl asked.<br/><br/>"You bitch!" Victoria yelled.<br/><br/>"Hey, I did exactly what you asked!" Tattletale smirked with her non-existent mouth. Knowing her, she'd planned this about half an hour ago. Or, as she said before, she was improvising at a ridiculous rate. Both of them were equally annoying, yet also somehow hilarious. "I found the least restful grave in the cemetery!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0012"><h2>12. Ghost-Hunting: Myrddin</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p><br/>"You know, when most people say they're getting the help of a civilian contractor, they don't mean their girlfriend," Dovetail said, floating slightly above the ground in a way that made it look like standing on the ground was too plebian.<br/><br/>I had to admit, it was.<br/><br/>"And most things associated with doves are not, in fact, associated with punching people," Susan replied.<br/><br/>"I would never punch anyone," Dovetail responded, acting all demure while flying around with her stupid flying power. I wasn't jealous at all, no sir. "That's what teammates are for."<br/><br/>"Yes, and you are associated with your teammates," Susan said.<br/><br/>"Ladies ladies please, there is enough Myrddin for everyone," I said.<br/><br/>"Yes, I've noticed, you gotta lay off the potato chips," my girlfriend responded.<br/><br/>"Can't say I disagree," Dovetail said.<br/><br/>"Anyway, let's pay attention to our mission shall we?" I said, subtly changing the topic. "Destination, Cook County Hospital."<br/><br/>"I bet they have a great cafeteria," Susan said.<br/><br/>"Has to be better than the Protectorate HQ," Dovetail responded, still floating in place.<br/><br/>"I know right? I mean, it's either that or this idiot here brings along stale muffins on purpose."<br/><br/>"Little known tidbit, they make them like that so that I have a lethal option."<br/><br/>"See? I'm innocent!" I said. "Anyway, as I said, Cook County Hospital."<br/><br/>"Why are we here again?" Susan asked.<br/><br/>"The ghost of Agatha Hagglethorn. She lived over a century ago, the young wife of Benson Hagglethorn. Benson was an abusive drunkard, who hit his wife whenever he'd had too much to drink, when she looked at him in the wrong way, or when he got bored. They had a baby together, and one day, when the baby was crying, Agatha tried to keep her silent, holding a hand in front of her child's mouth so as not to anger her husband. Sadly, that is not the right way to handle small children. So, long story short, she flips out, grabs an axe, chops her husband into tiny pieces, then feels so guilty she removes her own arm."<br/><br/>"Damn… poor girl," Susan said, a sad look on her beautiful face.<br/><br/>"And poor hospital. Whatever it was that Skitter found, it seems like it has been riling up ghosts all over town, including Agatha. To make matters worse, she's hanging out in the maternity ward."<br/><br/>"That's… bad, isn't it?"<br/><br/>"Someone, or something, deliberately targeting newborn children? Yes, that's about as bad as it can get," Dovetail said. "Although I'm not quite sure why they would be doing it. Killing children is not exactly the thing supervillains tend to brag about. It is one thing to be able to brag about going toe to toe with a member of the triumvirate, or fighting with one of the Endbringers. Killing children this young is very different from that."<br/><br/>"In other words, they're either preparing or experimenting for something, seeing how far they could go. Which means that we should be preparing as well, so that it won't catch us off guard."<br/><br/>"Which, once again, is why you asked your girlfriend along," she said, completely without a hint of sarcasm in her tone.<br/><br/>"Look, do you know anyone else with a wide scala of ghost-hunting equipment? Because I do, but he's being a mopey doofus, and his rates are way too high," I complained. I was referring, of course, to Mortimer Lindquist, an ectomancer with an actual, real talent for contacting the spirits of the departed, that had changed modus operandi and started to tell people what they wanted to hear, rather than what the dead were telling him. Compared to him, Susan was downright skilled at noticing signs of ghosts, since ghost stories were one of the few categories of the supernatural that generally weren't explained by claims of everything being caused by parahumans. The exception, of course, being the ghosts of parahumans, one of which was currently combing through a few gigabyte of social media data with the help of an algorithm provided by everyone's favorite type of Dragon. The type that build mech-suits instead of eating virgins.<br/><br/>We entered the hospital, and Dovetail decided that she would be the best person for the job of informing the lady at the reception of our presence. Technically speaking, I outranked her, but sometimes people ignored the well-trained and highly experienced wizard, instead deciding to trust the elegant young lady floating in front of them.<br/><br/>"You getting anything?" I asked.<br/><br/>"You mean besides the fact that you're standing right next to me? Not really," Susan replied.<br/><br/>"Haha, very funny. Haven't you gotten used to it yet? I mean, you've got a witch living inside of your house and everything."<br/><br/>"Well, T is pretty good at keeping her magic from interfering too much, so I've been thinking you're just incompetent," she teased.<br/><br/>"Well, there's that, and a couple of other factors. First of all, she's a good deal weaker than I am. Second, there's something weird going on with all of her bugs. I'm not quite sure what's going on there, but here presence is, well, more spread out. Rather than your fridge blowing up, The light-bulbs in the building have a slightly lower lifespan."<br/><br/>"So what you're saying is that we should never, ever tell insurance companies about that?"<br/><br/>"Exactly," I replied.<br/><br/>Dovetail walked, scratch that, floated, back to us. "I got us access to the nursery, but we'll have to stay out of the way of, and I quote, 'the actual heroes'."<br/><br/>"Oooh, isn't that usually your line?" Susan asked.<br/><br/>"Legend is usually the one claiming it. I tend to disagree, firemen aren't even made out of fire," I replied.<br/><br/>"How classy of you," Dovetail said.<br/><br/>Making our way through the hospital, I tried to meditate, cultivate inner harmony, that sort of thing. Generally speaking, it was easy enough for me to cast spells without mental preparation, but it helped reduce the amount of fall-out from my magic. It wouldn't do to have someone's pacemaker or a heart-lung machine stop working because of my presence. I didn't want something like that on my conscience if I could help it.<br/><br/>Once in the nursery, Susan set up her gear, measuring the electromagnetic spectrum all around. Dovetail took out a Dickensian novel, literally, and I started meditating. From Bob, Lisa and an out of town Thinker, we were pretty sure that Agatha Hagglethorn would return here tonight.<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>"So, why's she here?" Susan asked, whispering.<br/><br/>"Because the director doesn't want us to do solo operations right now," I replied.<br/><br/>"Yeah, but, why her? We're inside, she's a flier, doesn't make sense."<br/><br/>"It's complicated," I said. "She said she wanted to come, and implied it had to do with her civilian life."<br/><br/>"It's personal?" Susan asked, looking just a bit too interested.<br/><br/>"In a way," I replied. "And please, try not to publish anything like that. She has a family."<br/><br/>"Fine," Susan said, sighing as the device in her hands started blinking. "Is this you?"<br/><br/>"I don't think so," I replied. "I have myself under control right now."<br/><br/>"Then she's here," Susan said out loud.<br/><br/>Across the ward, Dovetail looked up from her book, closed it, and hid it somewhere in the folds of her dress-like costume.<br/><br/>I opened my spooky wizard senses, and felt energies slowly coalescing into ectoplasm. Something was definitely here, entering from the Nevernever. Almost like we'd planned it, the three of us, as well as all the babies and the single nurse still in the room, went quiet as a voice started singing. I looked at the nurse, who looked back at me, and pointed at the door. Luckily, she was creeped out enough to take my advice.<br/><br/>As the song continued, the light seemed to recede, and I could hear footsteps in addition to the children's song. Slowly, Agatha Hagglethorn drifted into existence, softly singing to the children in the hospital nursery.<br/><br/>It was a good song, and a great singing voice. Susan, who was sitting down besides me, leaned against me, placing her head on my shoulder, and I could feel my eyes become sleepy.<br/><br/>It was a good spell, both subtle and powerful, but I'd been prepared for this, and subtle magic generally started breaking apart when you knew it was there, and slammed your own will against like a jackhammer. I was very good at being that jackhammer.<br/><br/>"Agatha Hagglethorn!" I stated, loudly, and she looked at me, she was both young and attractive, and had that battered look to her that made me want to protect her. Then again, I had my girlfriend falling asleep right next to me right now, so if I was ever going to resist her spell, then this was it.<br/><br/>"Who are you?" the ghost of Agatha Hagglethorn said. "Are you a vagabond? Here to hurt my baby?"<br/><br/>Well, that was insulting. Then again, to someone unfamiliar with cape culture, my burlap robe probably did look like a classic 19th century vagabond. I looked her over, and saw the stump of her arm, where she'd cut it off in the old story. It seemed like the rumors were true.<br/><br/>"Are you here to hurt my baby!" she yelled again, power floating out of her, into the room. I could feel her presence on my skin.<br/><br/>"Agatha, he's not here to hurt your baby," Dovetail's said, her voice trembling and her silk mask removed from her face.<br/><br/>The ghost turned around, looking straight at the half-terrified woman's face. "Mother? Mother, my husband, you promised he would be a good man," Agatha said.<br/><br/>"I'm sorry Agatha, your mother is dead. She died over a hundred years ago," Dovetail said.<br/><br/>The ghost looked confused, and now that I had the time, I could see the comparison, the similarities between Agatha and Dovetail.<br/><br/>"Sister? Jessica why are you here? My husband doesn't like it when we have unannounced visitors," the spirit said.<br/><br/>"I'm sorry Agatha, but Jessica is dead as well," Dovetail said, slowly walking up to Agatha.<br/><br/>"No, you have to be Jessica," the ghost said. "Jessica you have to help me, he's going to hurt my baby."<br/><br/>"Agatha… I am sorry, but your baby is not here anymore," Dovetail spoke softly.<br/><br/>"Jessica why aren't you helping me? He hits me, he hits me and you wanted me to marry him, you said he would be a good husband."<br/><br/>"It's alright Agatha. I know it's confusing, but Jessica is dead now, and your mother is dead as well. Your husband is dead and your baby is not here anymore," Dovetail said.<br/><br/>"Who are you?" Agatha said, tears streaming over her ghostly face.<br/><br/>"My name is Agatha," Dovetail said. "I'm Jessica's great great great granddaughter. Your sister called her first daughter Agatha because she felt so guilty, because she could not help you," Dovetail continued. "Agatha, you have to let go. You have to find rest, you can't stick around haunting people forever."<br/><br/>"Agatha? You're my niece?" the ghost asked. "Agatha, you have to leave now, before he sees you. He'll hurt you."<br/><br/>A nearby baby started crying, and ghostly Agatha's attention turned to it. "Hush little baby, hush hush hush," she murmured, walking towards the baby, which quickly calmed down. Problem was, it became too calm.<br/><br/>I stood up, and walked towards my teammate. "Dovetail, I get what you're trying to do, but it's not working, and we can't let her hurt these babies."<br/><br/>"Just… Let me try once more," Dovetail said, and she followed Agatha, who had taken the baby from its crib, and was holding it against her spectral body. Slowly, she was draining its energy.<br/><br/>"Agatha," Dovetail whispered. "Agatha, put down the child, she's not yours. It's alright, you can move on now, move on and be with your child, safe from him."<br/><br/>Dovetail maneuvered around the ghost, and tried to take hold of the baby, but the spirit wouldn't have it.<br/><br/>"No! No! You can't have my baby! Mine!" Mrs. Hagglethorn yelled. "You can't take my child away! I'm not crazy! Benson can't have him, he's the only thing I have!"<br/><br/>As the spirit's face turned dark, I decided that this wasn't going to work. "Dovetail, back away a bit," I said, and she trusted me, although I could see anger on her face.<br/><br/>Then, I used my staff to draw a glyph in the air, and drew Agatha Hagglethorn, and everything she was holding, into a pocket dimension.<br/><br/>Except, of course, for the part where Agatha was a ghost, and all I got was a sleeping child, and a few gallons of ectoplasm, just as I'd planned.<br/><br/>Almost immediately, Agatha Hagglethorn turned around with a murderous look on her face. "My baby!" she yelled, rushing towards me, her stump arm raised, as if it was holding a weapon. I almost laughed at the idea of her smashing into me with a nonexistent weapon, until I remembered that this was a ghost, and I didn't necessarily need to be able to see the weapon to get hit by it.<br/><br/>"Riffletum!" I yelled, focusing my will on my shield bracelet, and forming a translucent barrier between me and the spirit. She lashed out, smashing down with her arm, and during the swing, her cut off hand, as well as the axe she'd used back when she'd been alive.<br/><br/>The axe smashed into my shield, and I could only barely hold it in place.<br/><br/>"My baby is dead because of you!" the spirit yelled. "I'll kill you!"<br/><br/>The axe smashed into my shield again.<br/><br/>"I'll kill you with the axe! Kill you! Kill you!" It yelled, repeatedly smashing into my shield, and I could feel every hit reverberating through my body.<br/><br/>"Gotta get past my shield first," I taunted, and it only drove the ghost even angrier.<br/><br/>"I'll take my axe. I'll take my axe and I'll whack you twenty times like I wacked Benson. You killed my angel so I'll whack you!" the ghost yelled, her sentences becoming less and less coherent.<br/><br/>"No, you won't," Dovetail said, sprinkling ghost dust on the angry spirit from behind.<br/><br/>Upon contact, Agatha's immaterial flesh exploded into scarlet light, and the spirit started screaming loudly before dashing away, and disappearing into a puddle of ectoplasm.<br/><br/>"Thank you," I said.<br/><br/>"No problem," the living Agatha replied. "Did that destroy it?"<br/><br/>"I don't think so. It probably crossed over instead."<br/><br/>"You mean, like, died?" she asked.<br/><br/>"No, crossed over to the Nevernever, the spirit world," I explained.<br/><br/>"So what now, we chase it?" she asked.<br/><br/>"That's uhmmm, not a good idea, attacking it in its place of power like that. It'll be far more powerful."<br/><br/>"I see," Dovetail said. "Then what now? We wait until she comes back?"<br/><br/>"Possibly," I said. "Depending on the data Susan gathered."<br/><br/>The two of us simultaneously looked at Susan, who had fallen asleep in the corner. Worse, now that I paid some attention, all of the babies in the nursery seemed to be rather calm. Excessively so.<br/><br/>And then, as if some cosmic director decided that this was the right moment for optimal dramatic tension, the singing started up again, this time without the presence of a spirit to disable.<br/><br/>"That's bad, isn't it?" Dovetail whispered.<br/><br/>"It is," I replied. "It really is."</p><p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p><p>"I don't understand, I thought that she'd left?" Dovetail asked, her gaze slowly going through the hospital nursery, looking for any possible trace of our opponent. I could hear Hagglethorn’s ghost singing, so soft it was almost inaudible, but that, the supernaturally silent babies, and a Susan that was actually sleeping before 2 A.M. was the only remaining trace of our opponent.<br/><br/>"She did, she went back home," I replied.<br/><br/>"To the spirit-world?" she asked, and I had to wonder, how much of what I’d told her did she believe? She was definitely on the up-and-up regarding, ghosts, but magic as a whole?<br/><br/>"To the Never-never," I said.<br/><br/>"So, if she's gone, why is she still here?" Dovetail asked.<br/><br/>"Because somehow, for some reason, she's able to affect this world from the other."<br/><br/>"Because of her high range? Or is this one of those 'shoot a bullet through a portal' situations," she asked, referring to a rather obnoxious cross-bow wielding small-time villain that had roamed the streets a year or two ago. Last I’d heard, he’d moved to a smaller city to try his luck.<br/><br/>"The second," I answered. "Given her presence here, her own private domain will be right on the other side."<br/><br/>"So, how do we get there?" Dovetail asked.<br/><br/>I thought about it. It wouldn't be that difficult for me to tear open a portal to Hagglethorn's domain. But then we'd have to fight her in her own domain. Plus, I'd quite possibly have to deal with my fairy godmother, which wasn't as fun as Disney made you think it was.<br/><br/>I wondered… what, exactly, was in charge of Disney? Some sort of pro-fairy lobbying group?<br/><br/>"We call in for reinforcements, then I open a portal," I replied.<br/><br/>"Myrddin… We can't wait," she replied. I looked around, the babies quiet, Susan sleeping in the corner, and the eerie singing still going around. "I'll call it in, but we can't afford to wait."<br/><br/>"Fine…" I said, as Dovetail spoke into her earpiece, asking for reinforcements.<br/><br/>"So, how do we go there?" she asked.<br/><br/>I held out my staff, and focused my will.<br/><br/>"Aparturum" I spoke, opening a portal to a different dimension, without using my parahuman abilities to do so. Before me, torn into the world, was a hole that led to an older version of Chicago. Everything was made out of wood. The houses themselves were old, reminiscent of my own apartment building, but lacking the concrete of my basement, or even any stone at all. The sidewalks, instead of being made out of stone tiles or concrete slabs, looked like the deck of a veranda. The roads themselves, strangely empty except for a few abandoned carriages, were cut out of a solid piece, far too large for any real-world tree to have been used. Street-lamps shone with clear pinpricks of light, and while some of them were lit by burning gas, others looked like early light-bulbs. The posts themselves however, looked like tree-trunks stripped of bark. It gave the area an eerie look, and it reminded me of nothing as much like a colouring book. Like someone had taken a picture of 19th century Chicago, and used only a single material to build it. It was fitting, for an axe-wielding ghost.<br/><br/>"Looks… flammable," Dovetail said with trepidation.<br/><br/>"Don't look at me like that," I replied, stepping through the portal.<br/><br/>Chicago in the Never-Never, or at least, this version of it, looked, quite frankly, amazing. Every house looked like a manor, and while the lights of the streetlamps didn't penetrate far, the low-level lighting made for a rather beautiful atmosphere, like it was an early evening, just before people went to bed.<br/><br/>Plus, there was the ghostly howling. Agatha Hagglethorn was angry, and in the distance, I could see the houses moving closer together. In her territory, the very terrain would be assisting Agatha in a fight.<br/><br/>"Wow," Dovetail said. "Just… Wow."<br/><br/>"Welcome to the other side," I said, as she floated upwards.<br/><br/>"Don't go too far away, spacetime gets fucky around here."<br/><br/>"Don't worry, I won't," she replied, inspecting the area, and leaving a trail of forcefields. It looked like she had some difficulties for a few seconds, but it quickly settled into a stream of slightly smaller bubbles than normal, compensating for that by increasing the number of bubbles. Her shard was probably connecting through the open portal right now, and while it would be interesting to see what would happen if I closed it, this wasn't the time to satisfy my curiosity.<br/><br/>"I think I see her from here," Dovetail said from above.<br/><br/>"What direction?" I asked.<br/><br/>"That way," she pointed. "Or at least, it's the center of the disturbance."<br/><br/>"Very well," I replied, running after her.<br/><br/>As we moved further into Hagglethorn's domain, the streets narrowed, and slowly, a roof appeared out of nowhere, slowly turning our large street into a narrow wooden corridor, lit by torches.<br/><br/>"Can't help but think that we're flying into a trap," Dovetail said.<br/><br/>"Probably," I replied. "But it's not like we have much of a choice."<br/><br/>"Wait… can you hear that?" Dovetail said.<br/><br/>I stood still, and Listened beyond the lullaby, and heard the baying of hounds.<br/><br/>"Crap, we've got hellhounds incoming," I said.<br/><br/>"Didn't she die during the Leviathan attack?" Dovetail asked.<br/><br/>"Different hellhounds, actual hellhounds."<br/><br/>We walked, or rather, I walked and she floated, forwards, trying not to think about the incoming army of hellhounds.<br/><br/>Eventually, the ever tightening passage ended at a set of fancy double doors, swung wide open. On the other side of the doors was a large room reminiscent of something out of a period piece, but once again, things were slightly wrong. There was a mahogany dining table, with high-backed chairs made out of the same wood, but those same grains were visible on the cutlery as well. There was an old wooden rocking crib, but the blankets inside of it were made out of carved wood that was only imitating cloth. Agatha Hagglethorn’s ghost, her stump arm bloody, stood by the crib, hiding her emotions behind her singing, but there was no baby in her crib. Leaning against one of its legs was the axe, and I could see anger behind the tears streaming over her face.<br/><br/>She looked up, noticing our intrusion into her domain, and the sadness in her expression disappeared almost immediately, giving way for a crazed anger.<br/><br/>"WHERE IS MY BABY!" the ghost screamed out, jumping for Dovetail at incredible speed, her axe swinging in a large arc. At the last moment, Dovetail dodged the hit with a barrel roll, leaving a trail of forcefields that stuck to the axe. A normal weapon would’ve been reduced to a nerf bat, but I was pretty sure we would have no such luck with her spectral axe.<br/><br/>I held up my blasting rod, and shouted "Fuego", throwing a fireball towards the spirit, hoping that its purifying force would wipe away the dead woman's ghost.<br/><br/>There was a positive side and a negative side to the attack.<br/><br/>On the one hand, it hit, and the ghost's dress started burning, and her spectral flesh with it. On the other hand, she'd turned her attention to me, and I couldn’t just fly out of the way. Her face filled with fear and anger, she charged me, using her single remaining hand to lift her axe above her head, ready for a swing.<br/><br/>"Defendarius!" I said, summoning a shield in front of me, which the ghost's axe smashed into.<br/><br/>The energies collided, and I was thrown back violently, as was the ghost. Right now, right here, she was much more powerful than back at the hospital.<br/><br/>"My baby!" Agatha yelled as she stood back up again, ignoring her burning flesh and her half-torn dress. I positioned myself so that the elaborately made up dining table, with a fruit-basket with wooden fruit, was between us, but she jumped it in a single go. This time, I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to conjure up another shield.<br/><br/>Instead, I readied my other power, the one that relied not on years of training and natural talent, but on interdimensional space parasites. It wouldn't be as reliable here in the Never-never, but I didn't need to do anything subtle right now. I just needed a boom.<br/><br/>Using my staff, I drew a circle in the air in front of me, and opened a hole into a dimension that was filled with, in effect, fire. In theory, there was a highly flammable semi-liquid gas on the other side, at more than one atmosphere. In practice, it burned things.<br/><br/>Almost immediately, screams for her child were replaced with screams of pain, and once I closed off the stream, I saw Agatha Hagglethorn's ghost floating there, the axe burned to ashes, and her flesh the color of coal, smouldering every here and there. Wrapped around her, starting at the throat, was what looked like barbed wire, similar to what Taylor had described to me. Something had tortured this poor thing into doing what she'd done.<br/><br/>"Myrddin, we need to get out of here," Dovetail said, and as I looked around, I noticed why. The wooden nursery was on fire, and although physics didn't really work here, and we therefore weren't being smothered by the smoke, it would still get awfully hot here.<br/><br/>"Give me a second," I replied, walking towards Agatha's ghost, which was just floating there, silently screaming. "I'm sorry," I said, almost silently. It wasn't a real person, just an echo of one, but doing this to a woman? It didn't feel good. Using my staff, I opened another dimension. A tiny hole this time, and an explosive blast of air was released, and the ghost was blown into ashes, the sound of her song receding until only the crackling of the fire remained. It was silent, too silent, the baying of the hellhounds was gone.<br/><br/>I looked at our exit, and spotted an image out of my nightmares there. A beautiful face framed by curly, copper hair, and amber eyes in the shape of a cat's eyes. Perfect lips, a perfect nose, and ears that were probably pointed enough to draw blood. She wasn’t alone, as she'd brought a trio of hellhounds, giant mastiffs built out of ashen shadows, which were brushing against her legs, silently glaring at me while baring their teeth..<br/><br/>"Harry my child, how are you?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Lea…" I replied.<br/><br/>"Oh, did you bring your girlfriend? She's cute," Lea said, looking at Dovetail.<br/><br/>"Myrddin, who exactly is this?" Dovetail asked.<br/><br/>"My fairy godmother," I replied. "She wants to turn me into one of those hellhounds."<br/><br/>"Master then. Anything else I need to know?" she replied, and I saw that she'd prepared her foam-launcher, floating out of range of the Hellhounds.<br/><br/>"Hush girl," Lea said, magic flowing into her words, and Dovetail went silent. Then, she took some time to look around the room, the fire had stopped spreading, but all of the wood was smoldering, and a thick layer of ash on the floor was matched by a ceiling of smoke.<br/><br/>"Reminds me of the good old times," Lea said, slowly walking closer to me, her body moving in all the right ways, her dress, a green strapless number, hugged tight to her unnaturally beautiful flesh. Compared to the charred remains of Agatha's ghost, it looked a lot better. As she spoke, I could see her canines, just slightly too sharp. "Harry, don't you think all of this violence is far too dangerous for thee? Running around town fighting spirits, werewolves and Endbringers? You'd be far safer at my side. After all, I just want to keep thee safe."<br/><br/>The worst part was, she was actually speaking the truth. Didn't even have a choice in the matter. As one of the Sidhe, she couldn't lie. Literally couldn't.<br/><br/>"I have to say, I'm not interested," I replied.<br/><br/>"Nonsense boy, come here," she replied, and I could feel my body move towards her, just as she came towards me. She grabbed me by the shoulders, and started massaging me. I had to admit, it felt good.<br/><br/>"See? So much stress with that job of yours, thou barely gets an hour of rest."<br/><br/>I wanted to protest, to pull myself away, but it was just so difficult to resist her workings.<br/><br/>It would be so much easier to give in, to go with her and leave my responsibilities behind. I wouldn't have to figure out how to teach magic to a teenager, I wouldn't have to deal with one apocalyptic event after another, I wouldn't even have to think about the fact that my boss and my teacher were dating, and that she was calling him Ebbyzebby. Just the thought of the two of them, snuggling and kissing was enough to send me into shock.<br/><br/>"No!" I shouted, pushing myself away from Lea, and readying my blasting rod.<br/><br/>"Hush now, my son. There is no need for violence," Leanansidhe said, all of her magic directed at me. I wanted to cast something, to blow a hole into that stupid perfect face of hers, but I couldn't bring up the willpower to go against her.<br/><br/>Which is why I was pleasantly surprised by an incredibly loud explosion, it's sound bouncing around the room. Almost instantly, the Leanansidhe started screaming, and I saw blood soak into her dress around her midriff. Released from Lea's spell, I looked at Dovetail, who was wielding a sawn-off shotgun, smoke coming out of the barrel.<br/><br/>"What are you standing around for, let's run!" she said as she was flying for the double doors of our entrance. One of the demonic dogs jumped for her, but she shot it out of the air with another loud bang, and it fell to the floor, whimpering and bleeding. Taking inspiration from her actions, I followed her, and the other two hellhounds, now wary of Dovetail’s shotgun, started chasing me instead.<br/><br/>"Forzare!" I yelled, kinetic energy blowing the two hellhounds back, while Dovetail flew above me, keeping pace with my frantic run through the hallway. I was really starting to appreciate my extended morning runs with Taylor.<br/><br/>"Your foam!" I yelled out, looking over my shoulder to see the two hellhounds still following us, dodging past Dovetail's forcefield trail.<br/><br/>"Throwing it!" she yelled out, throwing the tank into the air behind us.<br/><br/>"Fulminos!" I yelled, a bolt of lightning slamming into the tank, explosively decompressing it, and blocking the hallway behind us.<br/><br/>"Where did you get that shotgun from?" I asked, jogging through the long hallway while Dovetail was floating besides me, graceful as always.<br/><br/>"Utility compartment," she replied, a sly smile on her face.<br/><br/>"Why would it be in your utility compartment?" I asked<br/><br/>"Because I shot her with a breaching charge?" she replied. “I’m pretty sure opening doors counts as utility.”<br/><br/>“A breaching charge?”<br/><br/>"I mean, you said she was a fairy, and that one contained iron, so I thought, why not try it?"<br/><br/>"You got any surprises up your sleeve?" I asked. First the familial relationship with the ghost, then a shotgun, apparently there was a lot I didn't know about Dovetail.<br/><br/>She held a hand to her face, and I could see her look into the sleeve of her poofy dress.<br/><br/>"Let's see… Dragon's breath, Scimitar ammo, and some expanding slugs I'm not supposed to use."<br/><br/>"Does Image know about this?"<br/><br/>"Depends… are you going to tell them?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Probably not," I replied, as the hallway slowly morphed back into the streets of wood Chicago. "Why the fuck do you carry a Winchester around anyway?"<br/><br/>"Winchester!" she said angrily. "I'll have you know that this is a shortened MTs-255, 12 gauge with 5 rounds in the magazine, Russian make."<br/><br/>"Russian?" I asked.<br/><br/>"They know their shotguns, and they make sturdier stuff, which is pretty useful when you are around," she replied.<br/><br/>"Fair point. Why do you have it?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Because I'm a dainty young lady, and the streets of Chicago are dangerous?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Seriously?"<br/><br/>"What, you're asking me to go up against the likes of the Irishman with nothing but some forcefields and a foam sprayer?" she asked, half-joking.<br/><br/>The Irishman, so-called for his aggressively red hair, was some sort of Brute that had recently started working for Gentleman Marcone. Personally, I thought he looked awfully similar to Marcone's bodyguard and main spook, Cujo, but if that man had had powers, he would've used them from the beginning, and it wasn't very likely that he'd triggered in Marcone's employ, say what you want about the man, but he took care of his people. Maybe it was an even more evil twin brother?<br/><br/>"Say, Harry, wasn't it?" she asked after a few minutes.<br/><br/>"Yeah?" I asked.<br/><br/>"Were those eyes around before?" she asked, and as I looked around, I saw eyes appearing. Mostly as glowing orbs in the shadows, but sometimes, out of the corner of my eyes, wooden planks turned into eyelids, which opened up only to show bloodshot eyeballs, and turn back into wooden planks when I looked directly at them.<br/><br/>"Fuck," I said.<br/><br/>"What's happening? Is this your godmother?"<br/><br/>"I don't think so… No, I think something is taking over…"<br/><br/>"Taking over?" she asked.<br/><br/>"This place, it was Hagglethorn's domain, the place is the way it is because of her presence."<br/><br/>"So, what you're saying is, something else is taking over."<br/><br/>"Exactly," I replied. "And it's still quite a distance to the portal."<br/><br/>"Will it be alright?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Probably, I poured a lot of power into it, so it should hold for a while."<br/><br/>"Good, because I think it's getting worse," Dovetail said.<br/><br/>Before us, the wooden streets of Chicago were slowly morphing into, well, the closest analogue I could think of was the big tumorous growth of flesh that Genoscythe had turned into, which didn't make sense, because Genoscythe was dead…<br/><br/>"It's Genoscythe," I said.<br/><br/>"What do you mean? Genoscythe is…"<br/><br/>"Yeah, exactly."<br/><br/>"So what you're saying is, that thing is a ghost now, and it's coming for us?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Possibly," I said, standing still. We were still about a hundred meters from my entrance. For the best of the best, that meant ten seconds of running. For me, it'd take about twelve, except for the part where the wood had been replaced by flesh, half of it skin, the other just a wet mush, with eyes in between it. Here and there, I still saw eyeballs, and the street-lamps had turned into long, fleshy scythes.<br/><br/>"This is bad," I said, taunting fate, as I heard the baying of hellhounds resume behind us. They were still a ways of, but Lea had recovered from Dovetail's hit, and was coming after us.<br/><br/>"Great," Dovetail said sarcastically, taunting fate even further, and a dark phantom appeared in front of us, blocking our path to the exit.<br/><br/>A spectral grin appeared roughly in the vicinity of the phantom's mouth, and it spoke in guttural, twisted tones.<br/><br/>"I was planning to go for the blonde first, but if you're serving yourself up on a platter like this…"<br/><br/>Around it, more scythes speared, -or was it scythed?- out of the ground, blackened flesh waving around.<br/><br/>"This is a rather negative turn of events, isn't it?" Dovetail spoke.<br/><br/>"Yeah… we're basically mega-fucked."<br/><br/>"Anything that works well on ghosts?" she asked, going through a small bandolier of specialty shot-gun slugs. From what I could see, she’d brought quite an array, hidden between the folds of her dress.<br/><br/>"Holy ground, sunlight, fire, that sort of thing."<br/><br/>"Good," she said, and I heard her loading up new shells in her tiny, but deadly, five-shooter.<br/><br/>"And you even brought me a tasty little snack," the nightmarish spirit continued. "Good, very good."<br/><br/>While he was speaking out, I heard something behind me, and as I whirled around, I noticed a scythe, sprouting from what had once been a window, but was now a bulbous mass of puss, trying to impale me.<br/><br/>"Pyrofuego!" I yelled, launching a pillar of fire into an even more twisted version of 19th century Chicago. As I admired the burning flesh, I heard Dovetail fire twice before the mouths spread throughout the flesh-scape started screaming, blocking out most of the other sounds.<br/><br/>The spirit, in the meantime, had blocked Dovetail's shots by sacrificing two of his scythes, and was slowly walking forwards, holding something small in his hands. A chain of some sort?<br/><br/>"It's not working," Dovetail shouted, as she loosened more slugs in the spirit's direction. She was alternating between different types of slugs, but the fiery ammunition she used was blocked by the flesh-scythes, while anything that penetrated through them did minimal damage to the incoming spirit’s body.<br/><br/>"Agatha… spirits can only act when something directly relates to their deaths. Genoscythe is here for me. In the meantime, you need to escape," I said, hoping that I correctly remembered my ghost-lore. By now, our opponent was close enough that she would be able to go around it, and reach the portal that way.<br/><br/>"Harry, please don't pretend you can make it out of here on your own for my sake," Dovetail replied.<br/><br/>"It's not a done thing," I said. "My godmother can't lie, she does want to protect me. With some luck, I'll be able to play them out against each other."<br/><br/>"Fine… but you better not die on me, I don't want to deal with an angry girlfriend," she replied, flying off, escaping by going around the approaching shadow.<br/><br/>"Didn't think she was your type Myrddin," the shadowy figure said.<br/><br/>"And I didn't think you were one for the small talk, given the size of your corpse," I replied.<br/><br/>At that, the spirit lifted a spectral eyebrow.<br/><br/>"Well, it matters not, prepare to die!" he shouted, running towards me.<br/><br/>I half-turned, and held my blasting rod in front of me with one hand, drawing a sigil with my staff in the other. With some luck, Genoscythe was located everywhere around us, and not just in the phantom body in front of me, and I could hurt him, or at least reduce his power, by destroying the moving domain. Then, at the exact moment I completed the sigil required for my parahuman ability, I gathered my will, and released just about everything I had left in me. "Pyrofuego!"<br/><br/>From both of my wooden implements, streams of fire spilled forth, swiftly transforming the entire section of the Never-never into a blazing inferno. When I was done, everything smelled like cooked long pig, and the screaming had turned into a soft moan, just barely audible. The dark phantom, however, was only slightly singed, standing behind a blackened barrier of scythes.<br/><br/>"Bravo, but it's my turn now," it said, before soaring forwards at an incredible pace, mouth opened.<br/><br/>"Defendarium!" I said, trying to create a shield, but the day's fighting had tired me out, and the spirit broke right through it, latching onto my shoulder, and chomping into it with teeth that were way too sharp to be fair.<br/><br/>It started eating, and I started screaming. I wasn't sure how long I was there, but every bite hurt more, and I could feel it tearing into my very essence.<br/><br/>Eventually, I felt something heavy drop on top of me, and the nightmarish figure was torn away from me. Trying to get my bearings, I was barely cognizant of an unfolding battle between my assailant, and the remaining two hellhounds.<br/><br/>"Don't you see, my dear boy? Without my help, thee would have died. Please, let me protect you," Leanansidhe said, and I could just barely see her walking towards me through the pain.<br/><br/>"Go fuck yourself," I replied, as I noticed that her voice was missing its usual charming qualities. It looked like she was still hurting from Dovetail's hit.<br/><br/>"Really Harry, you should do something about that potty mouth of yours. Now, I think it's time that you lived up to your end of our deal," she said, right as the ground, or rather, flesh, started shaking.<br/><br/>I turned towards the portal, only to see that our reinforcements had arrived while Lea's hounds had been dealing with Genoscythe's ghost-form. Tecton, Cuff and Snaptrap were standing on this side of my portal, and Techy had just torn a fissure into the charred flesh of Genoscythe's dead power.<br/><br/>Lea turned and hissed, actually hissed, while Cuff darted forwards, and Snaptrap launched a grenade towards us with one of his singularities.<br/><br/>A wave from her arm changed the projectile's trajectory, launching it into what had once been a nearby building before it exploded into a cloud of foam, but Cuff had already launched a follow-up attack. A smooth disk of metal, Iron, sailed through the air, and while Lea tried to give a repeat performance, her telekinetic trick was ineffective, and when she noticed it, it was already too late for her to fully dodge. The disc tore through the side of her neck, spraying blood and making her scream out in pain. Knowing my luck, it wouldn't be fatal, but the wound, in addition to the fact that I had reinforcements, was enough to chase her off, holding a hand to her neck while trying desperately to remain graceful. I wasn’t sure where she was going, but she seemed to be heading away from the place where her hounds had chased the nigthmarish spirit.<br/><br/>I was lucky, that it was Cuff and Tecton that were here. Tecton's power armor meant he was clad in a couple hundred pounds of iron, and Cuff was a metallokinetic that specialized in manipulating the metal, in this case iron, around her. The two of them were basically perfect counters to fae like Lea.<br/><br/>"You alright?" Cuff asked as she came closer. "Damn, you look like hell."<br/><br/>"You should see the other guy," I replied, as she used her effectively enhanced strength, lifting her body armor to make it lift me, to let me lean on her shoulder.<br/><br/>"Aren't we standing on him?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Maybe, I'm not sure," I replied as she half-carried me back to the real world, too tired and hurting to make a silly remark.<br/><br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/><br/>A few hours later, Susan parked the Beetle in front of my house, and helped me out. It was late, and we were the only ones around, but we’d survived the night, which was more than you could say about the ghost of Agatha Hagglethorn.<br/><br/>"We've got the place to ourselves?" she asked.<br/><br/>"Yeah, Taylor's helping a local hospital with a bug infestation tomorrow, so I'm pretty sure she won't come in to make potions halfway through again."<br/><br/>"Good, because we've got to get you into a bed," she replied, smiling. I returned it, before wincing at the pain in my shoulder.<br/><br/>Almost instinctually, I balanced myself as we reached the door of the house, ready for a fifteen pound furball to try its best to bowl us over. However, for some reason, the two of us were still standing.<br/><br/>"Wait… where's Mister?" I asked.<br/><br/>"What do you mean?"<br/><br/>"I let him out this morning, he'll usually storm into me, wanting to go inside if I get back this late."<br/><br/>"Harry, it's a cat, cats are weird."<br/><br/>"But what if he's hurt? What if a dog attacked him?"<br/><br/>"You mean what if he attacked a dog? Don't worry about it Harry," she said, but I wasn't reassured.<br/><br/>A few seconds later, I saw the source of my discomfort appear. A woman, immaculately groomed, wearing tennis whites, and smiling. A vampire, Red.<br/><br/>"Calm down Wizard Dresden, I'm just here to deliver an invitation, according to the procedures outlined in the Unseelie Accords," she said. "Although, if you want to start a fight, I'd be willing to end it."<br/><br/>She smiled, flecks of blood still visible on her pristinely white teeth. Oh god how much did I hate vampires.</p>
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<a name="section0013"><h2>13. Ghost-Hunting: Amy</h2></a>
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    <p>"Again, thank you for coming, it's been a great help," the nurse smiled at her. She was a large woman, happy, even though her body would probably give in before she reached the age of sixty. In a way, the nurse reminded her of director Piggot. As angry as Carol and aunt Sarah could be at the woman, she'd never asked them for help with her personal condition, and Amy could respect that.</p><p>"No problem really," Amy lied. It was true that she liked coming here to help. It was also true that she couldn't live with herself if she didn't.</p><p>Something wet, large and heavy touched her shoulder, and Amy absentmindedly petted it. In response, Judas's overly large tongue fell out of his mouth, slobbering drool all over her robes.</p><p>"Isn't that a bit-"</p><p>"-unhygienic?" Amy interrupted. It was a legitimate worry, born out of nothing but goodwill towards her patients, but the comment still needled her. Did this woman really think she'd do anything to endanger her patients? Did a random nurse really think that she knew more about sickness and health than her? "Not really, he's completely immune to traditional disease, and his saliva is perfectly clean of everything except for a custom wound-healing agent. His fur is hypo-allergenic, and he's so well-trained that he'd never hurt anyone without my express command," she continued. The last part… wasn't exactly true, but it wasn't false either. As far as she'd experienced, Judas was pretty good at telling the difference between allies, foes and civilians, although it was difficult to tell how exactly Hellhound had trained him. Over the last few months, he'd gotten better and better at listening to her, but if it came to a conflict between her and Skitter, she wasn't quite sure who would win out in Judas's mind. Others, while they could theoretically bribe him with food, were mostly seen as a source of belly rubs, which was one of the reasons that Judas enjoyed these outings to the hospital so much. If children loved anything more than puppies, it was two-meter tall monster dogs made out of tail wagging and hugs.</p><p>Just for a moment, she let her power explore Judas's body, questing through his biological make-up. Publically, her taking care of Judas was a tribute towards one of Brockton Bay's villainous defenders, and Judas being this large was justified because he was well-trained and used to being enhanced, and because without New Wave around, she needed a bodyguard.</p><p>Her internal senses went through the organs. Three layers of plated bone, two separate storage sacks for specialized saliva, -holy water and a custom paralytic/anesthetic,- a set of twisting sinews, inspired by an old Roman design, ammunition provided by the dog's regenerative capabilities. A few enhancements in his hairs that allowed him to identify minute changes airflow, fire-proof skin, a set of gills hidden in the neck and a half-dozen other minor enhancements. Right now, she was spending her free evenings trying to find a way to give him freely activate-able incendiary sweat, since fire seemed to be rather effective against most villains, didn't matter if they were magical or parahuman in nature.</p><p>"Any unanticipated cases?" she asked the nurse.</p><p>"One, a girl suffering from necrotizing fasciitis, stable but scarring. Besides that, the usual. Seventeen terminal oncology patients, twelve of them from a failed trial of a new drug that looked promising. Two amputees from the police force, they got hurt trying to help out a man who was having some sort of psychotic break, and we managed to find three more of Watch's victims, two of them heavily impaired, the other left quadriplegic," she rattled off, as if from a list.</p><p>"We'll do the girl first, so I can leave Judas in the ward until we get to the amputees, anything else?"</p><p>"One thing. We seem to have a small infestation beginning in the kitchen, so the director wanted me to ask you if you happened to have contact information for that bug girl," the woman said.</p><p>"Can't you just hire exterminators?" Amy asked. Part of her deal with the hospital was an agreement about stuff like this. If the hospital could, potentially, do something about it themselves, they would, without asking Amy to do it for them.</p><p>"We could, but according to the director, fumigating would mean the kitchen would be closed for a few days, and we have a few patients with very specialized diets, which could be a problem when ordering take-out," she joked.</p><p>"I'll give her a call, but she's probably busy," Amy replied, taking her phone out of a hidden pocket on the inside of her robe, and dialling Taylor's home address. Because of her magic, she couldn't have a cellphone, but landlines were old enough to keep working, and miraculously enough, Myrrdin's girlfriend's apartment actually had one.</p><p>After three tones someone picked up the phone. "Rodriguez household, how can I help you?" a female voice said.</p><p>"Hi Skit," she replied. "You got a few hours tonight?"</p><p>"I was going to work on some potions…" the girl replied. Taylor, Amy thought, was just as much of a shut-in as she was, except for going out to heal people at the hospital, Taylor sat in a café with a book while playing superhero with the background processes of her mind.</p><p>"There's a minor infestation in the kitchen at the hospital here, do you mind dropping by for a bit? There's some quick cash in it for you. Legal cash even" Amy said snidely.</p><p>"Fine. I'll drop by," Skitter replied. "Same hospital as usual?"</p><p>"Yes," Amy replied, "Guess I'll see you in a bit?"</p><p>"Sure," Taylor answered, and Amy turned off her phone.</p><p>"She'll be here in a bit," she told the nurse escorting her around, who nodded. It was time to get to work.</p><p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p><p>Exhausted, Amy returned to the children's ward, where Judas was letting someone ride on him, and Skitter had been joined by some of the Wards.</p><p>"Met them on the way here, made an impromptu thing out of it," the young witch said, while Wanton, Siren and Kilroy were entertaining the children in the ward. Or rather, Siren was entertaining them, Wanton was being overly proud that he'd finally managed to get himself a girlfriend, and Kilroy was looking out of the window, trying not to show his jealousy.</p><p>She had to admit, she could understand that feeling. Siren was… gorgeous felt like an understatement, and while the girl wasn't really her type, she was most definitely easy on the eyes.</p><p>"Did you find the bugs yet?" Amy asked.</p><p>"Yeah, hard to miss, they're dealt with. How's the healing going?"</p><p>"Almost done," Amy replied, looking around the room, seeing the two cops entering the door, one of them using one arm to push his leg-less friend.</p><p>"Sorry kids, but I think the boys in blue have to borrow Judas for a bit," Kilroy said, ushering the little tykes away from the large dog. It was difficult to say which of them was more disappointed, the kids because they lost their toy, or Judas because he lost a major source of attention.</p><p>"Judas, here," Amy called out, walking towards the two amputees.</p><p>"Which of you wants to go first?" she asked.</p><p>"Micky here," the armless man said.</p><p>"Nahh, Rudolph's the real hero," Micky replied. "He can go first."</p><p>"Nonsense, I'm so heroic I can let you go first," Rudolph retorted, and from the look of it, they'd been at it for a while.</p><p>"Judas, what do you think?" Amy asked, and Judas jumped up, putting a heavy paw on the lap of the man in the wheelchair. "Guess it'll have to be you, Micky," Amy said, a hint of a smile on her face.</p><p>"Do you want me to do anything, or…"</p><p>"Just, don't get freaked out? It'll tingle and feel weird, and if you move too much that'll make it hard for me."</p><p>"Don't move, just like the dentist's, got it," he replied, and Amy came closer, laying one hand on him while placing the other on Judas's flank. Then, she started molding flesh.</p><p>She didn't quite know what would happen once people noticed what she was really doing. Would they be angry? Would they tell her that yes, she was indeed evil?</p><p>It didn't matter though because she wasn't going to change her actions. She'd tried doing It the straightforward way. Healing people, putting everything in the right place, hating herself as she slaved away her nights at the hospital.</p><p>The rest of the world probably thought that she was doing cops because they got hurt in the line of duty, like it was somehow more heroic to heal them than to heal someone getting hurt in a skiing accident or working with power tools. That wasn't exactly true though. No, the reason she asked for cops, was because she could be relatively certain they wouldn't abuse their ability.</p><p>"So, looking to help the good people of Chicago some more?" she asked, keeping a close eye on the man's vital signs.</p><p>"Yep," Micky replied. "I'm behind a desk right now, but if I could be back on the street again? Count me in!"</p><p>She suppressed a sigh of relief, happy at the knowledge that whatever else, Micky's intentions were pure. Then, she started her work.</p><p>She couldn't be too obvious. Not the way she'd been with Judas, but she didn't need to be obvious to be useful. In fact, most of her upgrades could be explained away as simply increased physical fitness, something done in order to counteract the atrophied muscles and lowered endurance from sitting in a wheelchair all day.</p><p>An improved heart, something more effective than haemoglobin, an immune system that would protect him from most everything except alcohol, muscles that were quite a bit stronger than they had any right to be. Enhanced regeneration, thicker skin, improved clotting factors, she filled the young policeman up with everything she could think of that wouldn't be immediately obvious.</p><p>If she lied to herself, she'd say that she did it this way so that, when it got discovered, she could point towards the success of her work. Ask forgiveness instead of permission. In truth, she just couldn't go back to the way things had been before.</p><p>"Whoa… that feels weird," Micky remarked.</p><p>"I have to modify a few things," Amy told him. "Get your body ready for fieldwork again, make sure you can hit the ground running instead of requiring months of physical therapy."</p><p>"Makes sense," the guy said. "And again, thank you for doing this. If there's ever anything we can do for you?"</p><p>"Just… be sure to get back into the game?" Amy replied, finishing the final touches on her subject.</p><p>"Will do ma'am!" he said with a mock salute.</p><p>"Well, that should be okay," Amy said. "Try it out for me?"</p><p>The man rose, -his bare currently hairless, since she'd forgotten to put those in,- checking out his new limbs, bouncing from one to the other and doing a little twirl, to the amusement of the onlooking children.</p><p>"As good as new, maybe better," the man smiled, stretching his new limbs.</p><p>"Well, your turn now Rudolph," Amy said, holding out a hand for the second man.</p><p>The man awkwardly took his left hand, touching it to Amy's right. "Well, guess that'll be the last time I have this particular problem!"</p><p>"Guess it will be," Amy said, awkwardly extending her other hand instead, and grabbing hold of the man, her right hand still on Judas's massive flank. Micky hadn't been a small man, but compared to Judas's bulk, it'd been absolutely nothing.</p><p>"So, you two partners?" she asked.</p><p>"Desk-partners," Micky answered for them.</p><p>"We got called in to a big shoot-out," Rudolph explained.</p><p>"Long story short, we became best buds in the ICU."</p><p>"Plus, Micky's wife makes amazing cakes."</p><p>"See, that's why I trust Rudy. If I left him alone with my baby, all he'd ask for is more food!" Micky smiled, still enjoying his new legs.</p><p>"I'll just be happy to be doing my real job again," Rudy said, his body telling the truth.</p><p>Satisfied, Amy started her work, moving bulk from Judas to Rudy, and improving the rest of his body at the same time.</p><p>She was living a lie, even more so than when she pretended to be a squeaky clean hero, but this lie? This was one that she could live with.</p><p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p><p>Dismounting from Judas, Amy made her way into their apartment, tired but satisfied. Most of the Wards had left after hearing about a disturbance halfway across the city, in a hospital where Myrddin and Dovetail were holding a stake-out.</p><p>Whoever thought to have Myrddin on stake-out in a hospital was a total idiot, but it wasn't her problem, not anymore. She healed, she helped out her sister, and she worked on her education. That was it. No more, no less. She had a few new rules, and one of them was to stop trying to overburden herself.</p><p>Their apartment was on the first two floors of a larger building, with a large, two-story, open living room, ostensibly to give Judas some room, actually to allow Victoria to fly around the living room and watch TV upside down.</p><p>"I'm home!" she yelled out, hoping to wake up her sister and annoy her for a bit.</p><p>She didn't reply, probably because it was the middle of the night, meaning that she wasn't home yet. Amy walked to their kitchen, getting her hands on some nachos and cheese, placing it in the oven, and slouching down on the couch while Judas was going for his massive food bowl.</p><p>She went through the channels, hoping for something to look at while she was waiting for her nachos to get ready. Problem was, there was absolutely nothing on the TV.</p><p>Bored, she looked around the room, trying to find something to distract herself. Vicky had put up several old pictures from the New Wave day, as well as Carol's framed copy of the front of the newspaper the day the Brigade unmasked. In addition to that, there were what looked like at least a hundred burger wrappers, shoddily shoved into a garbage bag by her sister's little helpers, who were currently in a minor civil war with what was colloquially known as 'the pizza-pricks.'</p><p>There was a shelf of books, mostly magazines, and a pin-board where Victoria had pinned several cards and pictures from Amy's patients, send in order to assuage their guilt at getting free healing and them promptly ignoring her, not that she could fault them for it.</p><p>As she flipped through the channels, trying to find a channel that wasn't third-rate political commentary, Judas suddenly started whining.</p><p>"What's up buddy?" Amy asked, but Judas just continued, eventually walking towards her and tugging on her arm.</p><p>"What's wrong? You need to go pee?" she asked, but a look at the dog's enhanced body told her that his massive bladder was still mostly empty.</p><p>"Rhuff," Judas barked, pulling her along.</p><p>"It's alright buddy, I'm coming," she replied, patting his head a bit, slightly down-shifting his stress levels while doing so. It wouldn't do to have him overly worried.</p><p>Judas led her up the stairs, trying to manoeuvre his massive bulk through, towards Vicky's room.</p><p>"She's not home buddy. Remember? I called out and everything?" she said, trying to comfort her dog, but he would have none of it, whining at her. "Okay, I'll check it…" she groaned, opening up the door to her sister's room, slightly excited to be in there when Victoria wasn't.</p><p>Except, she noticed, for the part where Vicky was already sleeping. And she wasn't exactly sleeping like a baby, instead twisting and turning under her blankets.</p><p>"That's very nice of you, to worry about her like that," Amy told Judas, as he dashed through, shaking Vicky with one of his paws, but the girl didn't wake up.</p><p>"Hey, sis, wake up, you're having a nightmare," Amy said, walking up to the bed and laying a hand on her sister's sweating forehead.</p><p>She activated her power, flooding her sister's body, and indirectly her brain, with hormones that should wake her up. Adrenalin, PER, Cortisol and a half-dozen other substances. Logically speaking, and according to everything her power told her, it should've woken her up, but something was interfering somehow, keeping the chemicals from properly affecting the neurons in those cases where it would have woken her up, but letting the stress hormones themselves through.</p><p>Suddenly afraid, Amy applied more of her power, but found herself unable to free Victoria from being trapped in her nightmare.</p>
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<a name="section0014"><h2>14. The Nightmare</h2></a>
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    <p>“I hate you, I hate all of you!” Carol called out, throwing her energy weapon at Vicky. She dodged it easily, but that wasn’t the problem here.<br/><br/>She looked at her mother, at the mutated, naked, flesh. The sheer hate on her face.<br/><br/>She knew it wasn’t really Carol, that this was some kind of strange double created by whatever that thing had been, but still.<br/><br/>Her mother was dead, killed in Eidolon’s blast, still engulfed by the cloning monster’s flesh, and this pale mimic in front of her was the only thing that remained.<br/><br/>She felt tears in her eyes, looking at the hateful face of her fake mother. It wasn’t even that different from the original, from the way her mother sometimes looked at Amy, if she thought no-one was watching.<br/><br/>Vicky landed. Then, kicking off with her legs, she launched herself forward in a straight dive. Her mother, or rather, her mother’s clone, materialized another energy weapon, but Vicky didn’t care. She grabbed a garbage bin, throwing it at her opponent, and it smashed into her body at an incredible speed.<br/><br/>She heard the sound of broken bones, of flesh being torn in places where it shouldn’t be torn, and she knew she fucked up. Thinking quickly, she flew towards her phone, using the old rotary dial to put in her sister’s number.<br/><br/>Three rings later, she heard the sound of her sister on the line. “Hello, this is Panacea, I don’t do requests, because my sister told me I should take it easy.”<br/><br/>“Amy, you have to help me, Gallant’s hurt!” Victoria yelled at her, crying as she was standing over Gallant’s hospital bed.<br/><br/>“I’m sorry Vicky, but I’m dating Jack Slash now. It’s like mother always said, I’m secretly a supervillain,” her sister replied.<br/><br/>“No Amy, mother’s wrong. I know you. You have a good heart, You’ve always had one. Please, just come back home? You can’t keep sneaking off to the hospital all night.”<br/><br/>“But Vicky, don’t you remember? He is coming, and he is angry.”<br/><br/>“What the hell are you talking about?” Vicky asked, looking around to see where her sister was talking from. The room was empty though, the only remotely interesting thing the slow oozing of the walls.<br/><br/>“You stopped his plans once sister, but you can’t do so again. You’re in his realm now. He’s far stronger than anything you could ever face. Even the soulless endbringers are nothing compared to him.”<br/><br/>“What the hell are you even talking about?” she asked.<br/><br/>“We’re nothing Vicky. We’re just children, playing with toys we inherited from our parents. We’re not like him. He is coming, he will take what he needs, and then he will exact his revenge.”<br/><br/>“Who’s revenge!?”Victoria yelled out as she saw whoever it was that Amy was referring to appear.<br/><br/>The wall of flesh in front of her split open, and a dark and shadowy figure entered the room. And it wasn’t that he was wearing a hooded cloak, or that he was somehow surrounded by shadows. It was that he was darkness and shadows personified, his every movement thrumming with power.<br/><br/>“Hello Glory Girl,” the personified nightmare said.<br/><br/>It was dark, evil, vile. In its hand it held an iron chain, connected to the wall behind him, which had turned into charred flesh, covered in organs and smelling faintly of pork.<br/><br/>It looked like Genoscythe had, before the massive remnants of his body had started rotting. His body somehow turned into the architecture of this place. The nightmarish before her then, was probably the warlock they’d fought, somehow having escaped the birdcage. Which was troubling, because if one person could do it, then more people could.<br/><br/>“Kravos,” Victoria replied.<br/><br/>“Do you know why I’m here?” he asked.<br/><br/>“You wanted to get your face smashed in?” she replied.<br/><br/>Kravos smiled at her, showing perfectly white, sharp, predatory teeth. The smile extended, far past where his mouth should have ended, and a large snake-like tongue extended from between his teeth.<br/><br/>“I like your spunk,” he hissed. “I think I’ll take it for myself.”<br/><br/>Victoria looked around, trying to see if she could find something she could use. A way to escape, a weapon to use in the fight, something to call for help.<br/><br/>She was in her old room now. Or at least something that looked like it. It was bigger than it should be, and the walls were made of twisting, charred flesh. Posters on the walls had been replaced by bleeding eyeballs the size of her head, and the windows… she didn’t look at the windows. Her bed had been replaced by something out of a fake torture dungeon, and her desk oozed with yellow pus.<br/><br/>A Shaker effect. That’s all it was. A shaker effect created by whatever remained of Genoscythe’s spirit. This wasn’t anything new, and it would be just like dealing with someone like labyrinth Sure, she couldn’t stagger the encounter and escape, but she could still take down the nightmare’s creator.<br/><br/>She rose, pumping up her power to the maximum. Fists extended in front of her, clad in the reinforced fabric of her costume. Her tiara blazed with light. She was Glory, she was grace, she would punch him in the face.<br/><br/>She soared forwards, fist extended in front of her, her feet no longer touching the Shaker effect. Kravos just laughed, his open mouth covering half his shadowy face. She’d give him something to smile about.<br/><br/>They’d taken this guy out before, and she could do so again. He was nothing but a parasite, feeding on someone else’s power because he was too weak to amount to anything on his own.<br/><br/>As her fist made contact with the man’s face, she realized she’d made a massive mistake. Instead of smashing apart the shadowy face, Kravos’s mouth opened up further, engulfing her arm before biting down.<br/><br/>She screamed, her world filled with blinding pain as she fell to the ground, desperately clutching at the stump that remained of her limb.<br/><br/>“Didn’t expect that, did you? Foolish girl,” Kravos said, laughing, multiple tongues licking the blood from his lips. “Here’s a fun fact for you. That connection of yours? It’s almost entirely physical. Something of the physical world. The only reason you even have powers in your dreams is because you believe you do.”<br/><br/>Victoria looked at him, wondering why her forcefield hadn’t kicked in. She tried to rise, lifting up from the ground with her flight, but it didn’t work. Even her aura, normally a constant reassurance in the back of her head, was gone.<br/><br/>“What… what did you do to me?” she asked.<br/><br/>“Nothing much, at least not yet,” he answered, slowly floating forwards. Had he taken her flight? Could you even do that?<br/><br/>“Tell me girl, do you know what thaumaturgy is?” the man asked, holding out a hand and making a gesture like he called something forth.<br/><br/>A scythe exactly like those Genoscythe created spawned from the ground right beneath her, impaling her straight through her stomach. She saw it sticking out of her stomach, covered in ectoplasmic ichor. She screamed, louder than she’d ever screamed before.<br/><br/>Kravos stepped forward, a quick flick of his many tongues passing past her throat, giving her a tracheotomy, and silencing her screams.<br/><br/>“As I was saying, it’s all about thaumaturgy,” the man said, walking around her in a quick circle.<br/><br/>“You see, in my previous attempts, I tried to take over the entire power, make it my own entirely. My attempt failed, and I tried to bite off more than I could chew, if you’ll accept my little pun,” the man said, monologuing as she slowly bled to death.<br/><br/>“The thing is, the entire endeavor was foolish, based upon a perspective that understood the arcane side of things, but failed to appreciate the parahuman half of the equation.”<br/><br/>The man stood behind her, holding her head in a clawed hand, and she swore she could feel his fingers in her head.<br/><br/>“You see, these new faerie, they don’t care about the soul, or the essence. They want DNA, and a dimensional signature. All I have to do-” His hand squished her head between his fingers, entering into it, and coming out with a small, glowing organ dangling between his fingers. The Corona Pollentia? Or some sort of spiritual representation of it? She felt her mind tearing itself apart, like some sort of reverse trigger event, the pain coursing its way through her mind, like it was removing everything her power had added. She wanted to cry, to scream, to fight, but she couldn’t. She was too weak, too pathetic, too powerless.<br/><br/>“-is take that connection, and make it my own.” the man continued, bringing the glowing organ to his mouth, and swallowing it down.<br/><br/>She could almost see him change. A forcefield appearing around his skin, his legs raising off the floor, and her fear increasing even more, panic racing through her mind.<br/><br/>“And sure, it won’t be quite as useful as my little pet here,” he said, gesturing to the world around him. The shaker effect, Genoscythe’s power.<br/><br/>“But it’ll be a lot easier to control, won’t it?” he continued. “Now, let’s have us a little beat-down, shall we?” he said, grabbing hold of her hair with a hand, and pulling her off of the scythe, hanging her in front of him in mid-air.<br/><br/>Why wasn’t she dead yet, she wondered. Shouldn’t she have bled out yet? Was this all just a nightmare that would be over the moment she woke up?<br/><br/>The man’s fist impacted her face, and she felt herself being thrown through the air, her bounces along the floor punctuated by a lance of pain in her entire being.<br/><br/>She tried to stand, getting up to one knee, holding her remaining hand in front of her, but she knew she couldn’t beat him. This guy, as strong as he had already been, now had somehow taken her powers from her. Even if she managed to get a hit in, her forcefield would take care of him.<br/><br/>A small voice in the back of her head reminded her of the irony. Of the way she’d beaten down so many people in just this manner before calling her sister to help her out, but the small voice was drowned out by the pain as Kravos’s knee smashed her jaw apart.<br/><br/>She fell to the ground, ready for the end as she felt something wet rub across her skin. Her blood? Did she even have blood in this dream realm? Would she die in real life if she died here?<br/><br/>She felt more than heard Kravos’s footsteps come near, ready to deliver a finishing blow. She closed her eyes, ready to accept the end when something coursed through her body, setting it on fire.<br/><br/>Her eyes opened, her arm regrowed, and as the man’s leg lazily kicked at her head, she dodged with lightning speed, getting back to her legs.<br/><br/>“Oh, you still have some willpower left in you?” the man asked. “Well, that only means this will be more fun for me.”<br/><br/>Willpower? Was that what it was? No. At least not in the traditional sense. This most certainly wasn’t her willpower keeping her alive, regrowing her spirit body. This was…<br/><br/>It was Amy, once again saving the victims of her power, flooding her body with adrenaline and other hormones, giving her another shot.<br/><br/>But… even if she’d been healed up, she was still powerless, unable to defeat the man before her. The only thing Amy had bought her was slightly more time before her death.<br/><br/>Except… She couldn’t beat this guy, but someone else, or rather, something else, might. From observing Taylor, she knew the basics of what she had to do, and if she was already in the spirit-world, then this wouldn’t be very difficult, would it now?<br/><br/>Using her regrown vocal chords, she spoke up.<br/><br/>“Azorthragal, Azorthragal, Azorthragal.”<br/><br/>“What did you say?” Kravos asked, but Victoria just smiled. She felt something inside her, filling the gap left by the loss of her powers, and by Kravos’s impromptu dinner. It seeped in along the cracks, patching her back up together with molten black glass. She felt its power course through her, her body heating up with power, and stepped forward.<br/><br/><em>“Interesting, I didn’t know I could do this,” </em>a dark voice said in the back of her head.<br/><br/><em>“Me neither,”</em> she thought back at him, stepping forwards with determination, her feet leaving a trail of molten glass on the ground.<br/><br/>“Interesting,” Kravos said with that unnerving tone of his. “But I happen to know that your power is stronger than that demon.”<br/><br/>“Try me,” Victoria replied, slowly walking towards him, ready for the impact.<br/><br/>Kravos flew forward, fist extending, too trusting in her powers. His punch hit her right in the face, smashing through the skin and bone, but somehow not killing her.<br/><br/>Then, as his shield was down from the impact of the punch, molten glass started pouring into the new cracks in her spirit. Kravos pulled his hand back, but it was too late, the ridiculously hot and corrosive glass stuck to his hand, beneath the forcefield.<br/><br/>Victoria stepped forward, smashing her body into Kravos’s with all her might, seeping with the molten glass of the demon.<br/><br/>“You may have my powers, but you have no idea how to use them, do you?” she whispered in his ear.<br/><br/>Kravos dashed back, pushing himself away from her, but it was already too late. His skin was smoking, and she could smell something that reminded her of burned shadows, his hand slowly being reduced to bones.<br/><br/>“You’ll pay for this!” the man cried out, flying away through an exit suddenly appearing in the environment, and as he did so, the flesh and organs slowly transformed back into a strange version of her room. The bed once again a bed, the windows once again windows.<br/><br/>Victoria collapsed in exhaustion, and immediately woke up, smashing her head into that of a crying Amy by accident.<br/><br/>“Amy, are you alright?” she asked, instinctively trying to float up out of her bed, ready to embrace her little sister.<br/><br/>Her power however, was gone, replaced by what felt like molten glass in the pit of her stomach.<br/><br/>Judas’s massive tongue rubbed over her body, slathering her in dog spit, and she gave his massive head a quick hug. He looked at her, his eyes inspecting every part of his body like he was scared of something.<br/><br/>“Relax buddy, it’s still me,” she said, and his tail started wagging like crazy again.<br/><br/>“Vicky, you’re safe,” Amy said, lying on the ground, one hand held to a red spot on her forehead.<br/><br/>“Yeah, I’m safe,” Vicky responded, not entirely sure if that was right or not.<br/><br/><em>“Azorthragal, you there?” </em>she thought, sending the words bouncing around in her head.<br/><br/><em>“I believe I am,” </em>it responded.<br/><br/><em>“Guess my power’s really gone then…” </em>she thought, the intensity of it hitting her. Kravos, the warlock that had been sent to the birdcage, had escaped, and gotten some sort of Trump power that allowed him to steal your abilities in your dreams.<br/><br/><em>“That does seem to be the case,”</em> it said. <em>“I can see the scars in your spirit where it happened.”</em><br/><br/><em>“Any idea if I can get them back?” </em>she asked. She wasn’t sure if she could trust this demon, but, weren’t they unable to tell a lie? Anyway, it couldn’t exactly hurt to ask, could it?<br/><br/><em>“Perhaps,”</em> he replied. <em>“But if it is possible, I know exactly who to ask. His name is Nicodemeus. He’s been around for a while, and I know just how to convince him to help you.”</em><br/><br/>Vicky sighed in relief. There was a way to get her powers back. This would all be temporary.<br/><br/>She sat up, looking at her sister. The girl was tired and sweating in panic, so she gave her a hug, giving her little sis a hiding place to put her tears.<br/><br/>“It’s alright Amy, I chased him off, whatever it was,” she told her.<br/><br/>Things weren’t alright, and she’d have to inform Myrddin before going back to sleep, if she even could, but lil’ Ames didn’t need to worry about that.<br/><br/>“I… I thought you would stay in it, that I’d lost you,” Amy replied. “There was something in your head, keeping you asleep. I wanted to do something but…”<br/><br/>“But you don’t do brains. I know Ames, it’s alright,” she replied, rubbing her hand, the one that Kravos had bitten off just a few minutes ago, across Amy’s back.<br/><br/>“I can’t lose you too,” Amy whispered, her head hidden away in Vicky’s chest, hugging against her just a tad too tightly.<br/><br/>“You won’t Amy, I’ll stay with you. We’re a team,” she replied, trying to comfort her little sister.<br/><br/>“Also, do I smell nachos?”</p>
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<a name="section0015"><h2>15. The Hunt Begins</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“Meow meow meow, meow meow. Meow meow meow.”<br/><br/>Mister had made it very clear that no, he did not, in fact, like it when there were vampires on my doorstep, and I had to admit, I could do nothing but agree. Apparently, Bianca’s minion had chased him off, because I’d found him two blocks over, hiding under a car, completely terrified.<br/><br/>“Meow, meow meow,” I responded, giving him a pat on his head. He purred, obviously happy with the company.<br/><br/>“Myrddin, have you seen Cuff and Grace? We’re supposed to leave in about five minutes,” Revel asked, standing in the doorway of my office.<br/><br/>“Meow,” Mister said, running for Revel and smashing himself against her legs in the same way he always did to me. It took her by surprise, but instead of bowling her over, she simply floated back a step or two, instinctively activating her flight.<br/><br/>“Meow!” Mister protested, obviously annoyed at the lack of damage inflicted.<br/><br/>“Meow meow,” I replied, shaking the can of food I’d brought him. He looked at me like I was dirt on which to tread, dismissing the processed wet food.<br/><br/>“Dresden, why is there a giant cat in your office?” Revel inquired, folding her hands and leaning against the door in her bad-cop pose.<br/><br/>“Well, he’s in the hallway now,” I replied, as Mister tried to climb his way up Revel’s reinforced dress as if it was a curtain. Revel ignored it, believing herself too important to deal with such mundane issues as cats. The two of them made a great pair.<br/><br/>“Harry,” she hissed at me, a deadly glare in her eyes.<br/><br/>“I’m a wizard, he’s a cat, seems obvious to me,” I replied, countering her seriousness with a massive grin. “I mean, sure, he’s not black, but disqualifying him for that is probably cat-racist.”<br/><br/>“No, I mean, why is he here? In the building?” she asked as Mister reached her shoulder and started pawing at her lantern.<br/><br/>“Rempires,” I explained.<br/><br/>“Rempires?” she asked, finally giving in and taking Mister into her arms, giving him a quick little scratch. When pressed, she would probably claim it was to protect her equipment from kitty claws, but I knew better than that.<br/><br/>“Red Court Vampires,” I clarified. “Bianca’s people, the ones we have infesting our dear city.”<br/><br/>“Don’t tell me there’s more of them,” she said with an overly dramatic sigh. Mister, always attentive, started nuzzling up against her. He was a crotchety old cat, but he knew what to do when it mattered.<br/><br/>“Well, you know those Twilight movies? The ones Dovetail is so enthusiastic about?” I said, inventing the latter half of the statement. I had no idea if Dovetail even watched them, but I was pretty sure she wouldn’t like the implication.<br/><br/>“Don’t tell me the other courts feed on bad movies instead of blood,” she said sarcastically, as Mister moved his attention back to the lantern, it’s swinging movements having proven too interesting for him to resist.<br/><br/>“White Court, sex vampires,” I explained. “They feed on human emotions, usually lust, sometimes fear or despair instead. And then there’s the black vampires, which-”<br/><br/>“African American vampires,” she corrected me, happy to get one over on me.<br/><br/>“I’m the one in charge of jokes around here, boss. You already have my cat, are you going to take that from me too?”<br/><br/>“Presumably? What’s his name?”<br/><br/>“Mister,” I replied.<br/><br/>“So she’s a girl? She asked, taking a second look at the massive cat on her shoulder.<br/><br/>I raised an eyebrow. Just the one. I liked to claim that doing that was one of my wizard powers.<br/><br/>“Because if anyone ever called a female cat Mister, it would’ve been you,” she stated, grabbing hold of him and holding him in front of her, where she smooshed her face against his.<br/><br/>“Fair point,” I admitted. I should’ve thought of that option a couple of years ago.<br/><br/>“Also, now that I’m here, how’s Skitter doing?” she asked, stepping forward in sitting down in my guest chair, Mister purring on her lap.<br/><br/>“Better than I am,” I replied. “She met up with Panacea and some of the Wards yesterday, impromptu get together at the hospital. Something about cockroach removal.”<br/><br/>“Good to hear our Brocktonians have been settling in,” Revel said. “Makes me think things are looking up for the city.”<br/><br/>“You think so?” I asked her. While we hadn’t had any big losses in quite a while, it wasn’t like we’d taken down the big players either.<br/><br/>“I hope so,” she said. “We’ve been pretty good at managing the teenagers in town. Take that recruiting pool away from the gangs, and we should be able to win in the long run.”<br/><br/>Typical, I thought. Leave it to Revel to turn her penchant for forcibly recruiting and reforming teenagers into some sort of long-term plan to save the city.<br/><br/>“That leaves out the adults, the imports, and the creepy-crawlies,” I replied, trying to poke holes in her plan.<br/><br/>“True,” she admitted, her smile drooping a bit. “But that’s where we come in.”<br/><br/>“And then there’s folks like Marcone, who don’t need powers to be horrible.”<br/><br/>“Yeah…” she said, trailing off as Mister jumped from her lap to my desk, where he took my paperwork and turned it into a bed. I probably wouldn’t be able to work on it for a while, which was just such an annoyance.<br/><br/>“So, the Black Court,” I said. “Think necromancy, and old-fashioned vampire movies. Garlic, holy water, sunlight, the works. Stoker’s book is quite literally a hunting guide.”<br/><br/>“So we’ve got classic Dracula, bloodsuckers, and sexy motherfuckers, that about it?” Revel asked, one hand extended forward to play with Mister’s paw.<br/><br/>“As far as what we’ll find in the city? Probably. I know there’s something called a Jade Court over in the far east, and who knows what could be hiding among the penguins, but those three are the big ones we’ll have to worry about.”<br/><br/>“Great, more things to prepare for,” she said, standing back up again. “Anyway, I’m off to find the girls. Just, try not to bring your cat on patrol?”<br/><br/>“I’ll try,” I replied, stroking Mister on his head as he purred from satisfaction. “Maybe Tekky wants an important mission while tinkering.”<br/><br/>“And Dresden, try to figure out who attacked you and Dovetail yesterday, I don’t want something like that to bite us in the ass later on.”<br/><br/>“I’ll get on it,” I said, lifting a protesting Mister to get at my paperwork. I’d have to do some magical research, and it’d help to have my notes with me.<br/><br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/><br/>“So the blonde? That’s definitely Glory Girl, right?” I asked, looking at my two assistants, one of them lovely, the other leering, and both of them mostly disembodied.<br/><br/>“Could be me, but that’s unlikely,” Tattletale said. “Then again, there’s probably a few million blondes in the city, so it’s not like it’s easy to narrow down.”<br/><br/>“But, if it’s Genoscythe’s ghost, then it should be limited to those who had a role in his death,” Bob said.<br/><br/>“You don’t sound very self-assured,” I said. “That’s new.”<br/><br/>“Well, I’ve got hundreds of years of magical knowledge in my noggin,” Bob said. “But there’s parahumans involved here, so who knows what could happen!”<br/><br/>“So, if ghosts are limited to stuff involving their death, what about me?” Lisa asked. “Pretty sure neither of you killed me.”<br/><br/>“That’s the problem!” Bob said. “Presumably, you can flit around because you still have your soul. You’re dead, but alive. Somewhere between a person and a spirit. Question is, why doesn’t this happen to every parahuman? And if we work from the presumption that you’re somehow unique, then what the hell is happening with Genoscythe?”<br/><br/>“Maybe we’re going about this the wrong way,” I said. “Thinking about it, how sure are we this is Genoscythe’s ghost?”<br/><br/>“Someone pretending to be Genoscythe? Unlikely, at least from the parahuman side of it. If he was alive, sure, lot’s of masters that could do that, but shards don’t really have the wiring to mimic spirits. It could be a versatile Trump, but how would they get to the Nevernever?” Lisa said.<br/><br/>“Same from this side,” Bob agreed. “Theoretically, any number of things in the Nevernever could be strong enough to create that effect, but from what you were describing, the actual demesne was changing, and that generally follows the nature of the being responsible. The winter queen turning everything frosty, stuff like that. No, I’m pretty sure that this was Genoscythe’s ghost, or at least that it was somehow involved.”<br/><br/>“What if it’s both?” Lisa asked, and I raised an eyebrow at her.<br/><br/>“What if it was Genoscythe’s ghost, but it was also someone else? Think about it, the Culler’s entire plan was to take Genoscythe’s power for his own, right?”<br/><br/>“Except it failed. Taylor and Victoria stopped his ritual, putting a hold on his plans.”<br/><br/>“But what if it didn’t?” Lisa said. “Or, what if something went horribly right instead of horribly wrong?”<br/><br/>“Ectomancy,” Bob said. “He couldn’t eat a living parahuman, but controlling a dead one? That’s a different story, isn’t it?”<br/><br/>“Except the Culler is safely locked away in the birdcage,” I said. “How could that shadow possibly be him?”<br/><br/>“Is he? I mean, he probably didn’t escape, given the way Nevernever portals work, but what if he died? He’s not a parahuman, so he wouldn’t have been sucked in by Glaistig Uaine, so wouldn’t his ghost have been able to simply walk out?” Lisa asked.<br/><br/>“Possibly. As you know, ghosts aren’t limited to moving through the Nevernever,” Bob said. “We’ve been assuming that, if he were to escape, he’d do so through there, but if he never left…”<br/><br/>“So, three things on our to-do list. Figure out if Kravos died, tell Dragon to build a ghost-wall around the birdcage, and warn Glory Girl about Kravos,” I said.<br/><br/>“How would he get to her?” Lisa asked. “He’s in the Nevernever, right?”<br/><br/>“Wouldn’t be difficult to get out of there, right?” I asked Bob.<br/><br/>“True, but he’d be a spirit in our world. So he would be unable to cross thresholds, and would have to create a body out of ectoplasm before interacting with anything physical.”<br/><br/>“So stay inside, and get ready to punch stuff with holy water, nothing she won’t be able to handle, right?”<br/><br/>“Presumably,” Lisa said. “As for the other targets...”<br/><br/>“That’s me, Taylor, Revel, Ebenezar, and possibly Hookwolf.”<br/><br/>“Scratch Hookwolf from that list, the Culler was long gone by the time he arrived.”<br/><br/>“Good point,” I said. “Let’s get to it.”<br/><br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p><p><br/><br/>I drove my trusty, tinker-enhanced car up and took a good look at the Dallon sisters’ apartment. The house was relatively close to the university, which made sense. The two of them were slightly older than Taylor, and had already gotten their G.E.D’s. Amy Dallon had been working at hospitals across the city, and was selling her services for medical research, while Victoria was ostensibly studying something at the university.<br/><br/>Stepping out of the car, I walked through the small front yard, roughly two feet of plants in front of the windows, and knocked on their front door. Sure, there was a doorbell, but knowing my magic, it’d probably start smoking right before I could put my finger on it.<br/><br/>Inside, I heard Judas start barking, and after several seconds, Amy Dallon opened the door, wearing a large sweater, with puffy eyes.<br/><br/>“What’s wrong?” I immediately asked.<br/><br/>“Myrddin?” she replied, looking me over as I realized she’d never really met me out of costume before.<br/><br/>“Yeah, I wanted to talk to Vicky but, what’s wrong?” I asked.<br/><br/>“It’s Vicky… she…”<br/><br/>“Is she hurt?” I asked, my hand subconsciously tightening its grip on my staff.<br/><br/>“It’s not that, it’s… she left,” Amy said.<br/><br/>“Left?”<br/><br/>“Packed her bags, said she needed to sort some things out for herself.,” Amy said, rubbing a tear from her eyes.<br/><br/>“What happened?” I asked her, putting a hand on the girl’s shoulder. Women and children were a weakness for me. Crying teenage girls that spend their life healing people? Couldn’t hit me harder if she tried to.<br/><br/>“I don’t know… She was having this weird nightmare, and after she woke up, she was really distrustful of everything, like she was paranoid people were out to get her. I thought it was just cause of what happened. Not the first time one of us has had nightmares,” she said.<br/><br/>“Sounds rough,” I told her. I’d had my share of nightmares about losing my family, losing my father and Elaine.<br/><br/>“But, come in,” she said, remembering that we’d been standing in front of the door, where everyone could see us.<br/><br/>I followed behind her, spotting the incredibly large dog bed, filled with ridiculously large pillows. Looked like someone was spoiling Clifford.<br/><br/>“Coffee? Tea?” Amy asked, walking to the kitchenette.<br/><br/>“Leaf juice would be nice,” I replied, sitting down on the couch as Judas put his head on my lap, trying to catch Mister’s scent and figure out where the cat went. The joke was on him, because Mister was being growled at by Tera right now, who was still the baddest doggo in town.<br/><br/>“So, can you go over the details?” I asked as Amy arrived with a minty tea.<br/><br/>“It’s… I came back from the hospital when she was already asleep. After a while, Judas noticed something, so I went in to check up on her. She was tossing and turning, and I couldn’t get her to wake up for a while. She woke up after a few minutes, and she said everything was fine, even wanted to steal my nachos,” Amy said, taking a long gulp of her steaming hot tea.<br/><br/>Nightmares… Did I know anything about nightmares? She hadn’t left the house yet, so she should have been safe from Kravos, so what could have scared her into leaving?<br/><br/>“Hmmm,” I said, hoping it would convince Amy that I was deeply in thought, instead of having no idea what I was really doing.<br/><br/>“Did anything happen after she woke up?” I asked.<br/><br/>“I’m not sure,” Amy replied. “Judas was acting up, and I ended up falling asleep right next to him. When I woke up, there was a small note on the table, and she was gone.”<br/><br/>“Can I see the note?” I asked, and Amy removed it from her purse, the little post-it looking like it had been wet.<br/><br/>I took it from her, and opened my third eye to inspect it. The note remained largely the same. A yellow post it, looking somewhat like old parchment, with smudges from tears on it. The text itself remained unchanged, a quick note from Victoria telling her sister she was leaving. THe ink and font however, had taken on a different form. The ink itself had been replaced by what looked like black blood, carved into the post-it in a manner that reminded me of a black death metal album cover.<br/><br/>Demons, I was pretty sure. At least one of them. Given Victoria’s chosen career path, it could be a whole host of different ones. Either predators looking to use her power for themselves, or demons whose plans she’d thwarted. Given the current villain in town though, I was pretty sure that it was probably Kravos’s pet that was responsible.<br/><br/>I looked up at Amy, wanting to tell her about what had presumably happened to her sister, when I noticed I’d left my third eye open.<br/><br/>Amy looked like an angel. Calm, serene, a symbol of warmth and healing. At least on the outside. Beneath that outer layer, once you stripped away the aura of her reputation, was one of the vilest beings imaginable. A high-school aged teenager in all her bitchiness laid bare. Petty, angry, and filled with self-doubt. Self-doubt that eventually led to that far too perfect exterior of her. It was in this middle layer that I could see her shard, burrowing in together with with the pressures of outside expectations. A metaphorical thing, I was pretty sure. Two things hurting her in the same way. Then, hidden even deeper beneath all that, at the very core of her being, there was a little girl that was both terribly afraid, and pure of heart.<br/><br/>“Are you alright?” she asked.<br/><br/>I blinked, closing three eyes and opening two of them again. “Yeah, just distracted a little,” I explained. “Listen Amy, do you have any idea why your sister might be listening to a demon? It shouldn’t have been able to attack her here, but…”<br/><br/>“A demon? Don’t think so,” she replied. “I mean, she’s been using those little faeries as scouts and battlefield lighting, but I don’t see why she’d change to demons all of a sudden.”<br/><br/>“Oh, right, the wee folk…” I said as a thought entered my mind. Faeries couldn’t lie, they were physically unable of speaking anything but the truth, and were bound by their promises. What if Victoria, knowing as little as she did, thought that that applied to all magical creatures, like in the Maggie Holt books? If so, even though she’d know not to trust demons, it would have been able to reassure her by saying whatever it wanted her to believe…<br/><br/>“Amy, we might have a serious problem here, and I have absolutely no idea if it’s related to this whole ‘Kravos two, electric boogaloo,’ thing.”<br/><br/>“Kravos two?” Amy asked.<br/><br/>“He’s back, in ghost-pog form,” I explained. “It’s one of the reasons I dropped by, I wanted to see if I could borrow Judas for something.”<br/><br/>“Are you going to use him to track down Vicky?” Amy asked.<br/><br/>“I wish…” I answered. “But, Vicky being Vicky, she probably took to the skies right after going through the door.”<br/><br/>“If she didn’t just use the window…” Amy said, looking at the floor before her. “Any ideas to track her down?”<br/><br/>“A couple,” I said. “The most obvious is to use her hair to track her down thaumaturgically. But if she’s listening to a powerful demon and doesn’t want to be found, then she’s probably taken countermeasures.<br/><br/>“I see,” Amy said. “So, what should I do?”<br/><br/>I took the post-it note she’d handed me before, turning it around and writing down a phone number and address. “These are the details of a guy called Michael. Wields a holy sword and fights the forces of evil. If anyone can help you, he can,” I told her, giving her the note.<br/><br/>“Thank you…” she said, her eyes lost, looking at the piece of paper. That girl really loved her sister, didn’t she? “What did you want Judas for anyway?”<br/><br/>“I don’t think my target is working alone, and I’m almost out of leads,” I explained, fishing around in my pockets for my invitation to Bianca’s vampire party. “So I want to use him to track down some vampires, see if I can figure out just how exactly they’re involved.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0016"><h2>16. Vampires</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I sighed, putting down my books to take another sip of the steaming mug of tea. This whole paying attention thing really wasn’t working out right now. I could be helping Harry and Lisa chase down the nightmarish spirit running around attacking. I could be helping mister Carpenter hunt down ghosts roused into attacking people, hell, I could even be studying anything but algebra.<br/><br/>But no, Revel insisted I get my G.E.D, and to get that, I’d need to master the material the same way I mastered my bugs.<br/><br/>No, bad Taylor, stop turning into Harry…<br/><br/>I leaned back in my chair, looking around the small coffee shop with my eyes, and taking stock of the area around it with my invertebrate armies. It was pretty late in the afternoon, and a combination of cold, rain, and quite possibly good instincts, kept people indoors, the streets emptier than they usually were at this hour. The little cafe was equally empty, with just a few guests on the ground floor beneath me, and no-one else taking a seat on the second floor.<br/><br/>It felt weird, doing nothing when I could be doing something. With the Undersiders, I’d gone from fighting Lung, to robbing a bank, to fighting Bakuda, to teaming up against the ABB, to attacking the fundraiser, to our scuffle with the Empire when their identities had been made public.<br/><br/>Compared to all of that in a manner of weeks, my time in Chicago had been rather dull. There’d been the whole werewolf thing, as well as Genoscythe’s death, couldn’t forget that one, literally. Using my wizard’s sight for the pseudo-trigger event there hadn’t exactly been a good idea, nor was thinking of it.<br/><br/>Satisfied that the room was empty, I put away my mathematics textbook, and pulled out my mathemagics textbook. Eb’s work, which focussed on the movement and manipulation of energy, and the way that magic interacted with the laws of thermodynamics.<br/><br/>For a while now, it had been getting colder outside, making it more difficult for my bugs to stay active in the cold.<br/><br/>Were I Harry, I would have simply conjured a few fireballs, linked their heat to my bugs thaumaturgically, and then simply lobbed some more fireballs.<br/><br/>But I wasn’t Harry, and I didn’t have his energy reserves. I couldn’t power through this with strength alone, so I’d need to get the energy from somewhere else. Problem was, if I used my body heat, I’d grow cold myself, and if I used an external source, I’d have to be very careful not to use too much heat, or I’d fry both the bugs and, with some bad luck, myself as well.<br/><br/>So, for the past few weeks, I’d been working on the thermal distribution equations. They were a painful reminder of lacking algebra skills.<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>It was getting late, and the store had finally kicked me out for not buying anything in two shifts. Making my way through the streets, I checked ahead with my bugs, making sure there wasn’t anything dangerous ahead. There was a dangerous spirit on the loose, and I really shouldn’t have stayed out so late, but I’d gotten distracted by my studies.<br/><br/>It’d felt good, being able to lose myself into something intelligent, with a subject untainted by the trio’s bullying.<br/><br/>The streets were even emptier than before, the weather and the late hour keeping people locked inside. I wished I’d had the foresight to do the same, but for now, my Skitter-cloak worked to keep me dry and warm.<br/><br/>Taking the scenic route through a small park, I noticed people at the edge of my range. A small group, moving with purpose, searching for something, or perhaps someone.<br/><br/>They weren’t people I recognized, but it was easy to know who they were, or at least who they were aligned with. Half of them were junkies, people not caring for their clothes, their food or their health, they cared only for their next fix. In most places, that would be cocaine, or perhaps heroin. In Chicago? It was vampire spit, laced with everything you needed to stop caring and start giving away your blood. I hated it, the way they manipulated people, took advantage of their weaknesses. These guys? They weren’t even really my enemies, they were the people that needed rescuing.<br/><br/>No, the enemies were the three other people with them. One of them was the type of person Coil had hired. Broad-shouldered, with a good stance, and hidden weaponry all over his body, hidden beneath a suit that was sure to be bulletproof. In addition to that, there was a vampire and, well, his floozy. THe vampire, hidden behind a skin-suit, I identified through my mosquitos, which were able to pick up on the blood still stuck on its teeth. The girl besides him, skimpily dressed with a scarf wrapped around her neck, was probably the source of the blood.<br/><br/>I wondered about her clothing choices, since they couldn’t be comfortable in this weather. I knew the White Court was actually into the whole sexy vampire thing, but did members of the Red Court also have urges? Did they simply surround themselves with pretty people for aesthetic reasons?<br/><br/>I kept a few thousand eyes on them, trying to figure out what to do about this. Did I call it in? Get reinforcements? Ask Harry or Revel for help? Show them that all I was good for was scouting out enemies?<br/><br/>No, all things considered, I was basically on a routine patrol, and I’d come across them by accident. Plus, I was still about a thousand feet away from them, and they had no idea where I was.<br/><br/>Checking to see if there was anyone looking at me, I opened my book-bag’s largest compartment, grabbing mask and implement. I wouldn’t have the time to put on all my gear, but the protective spells on my cloak that protected me from the weather would also work against were far more effective than the armored design I’d made back in the basement had been.<br/><br/>Then, kitted out with my focus, a chain of silk wound through differently enchanted beads of assorted materials, I started gathering my swarm around the vampire squad, moving them through places where the rain and the cold wouldn’t get at them.<br/><br/>Out of sight for them, a horde of insects started preparing, the spiders spinning cords of silk, the fliers taking up position where they could drop a variety of payloads, mostly other bugs. The biggest problem would probably be the armed man they had with them. A shotgun, a handgun, and what I thought was probably a flashbang on his belt. I was more worried about him drawing his weapons and firing wildly than anything else. The others? They didn’t even really register.<br/><br/>They walked on, checking different alleyways as I prepared my spell. Then, as the frontmost of their group entered an alleyway in which I had a sizeable army, I swarmed them.<br/><br/>Flies and cockroaches formed the bulk of the swarm, but within the groups were stronger fliers carrying strings of spider silk. The same type of silk that had been roped through the beads of my focus. I whispered the magic words, adding a please for good measure as my minions flew around my enemies.<br/><br/>Energy flowed from me, through the connection provided by my shard, into my bugs. It followed the flow of the lines of silk, strengthening them and providing extra material from ectoplasm. They were shouting now, panicking as an intelligent swarm attacked them, getting in between their clothes, stinging their arms the moment they tried to go for their weapons.<br/><br/>I smiled, this was just too easy. Within seconds, the group was taken out, and I was creating more silk to hang them from a traffic pole, the way superheroes in movies in Aleph always did. Then, without warning, the girl I’d thought was just portable lunch suddenly disappeared, immediately appearing a few dozen meters in front of her old position. She’d brought along the normal silk, as well as the bugs I’d had on her body, the same way Oni Lee had done. The magical silk though, she’d left behind, where it now laid useless on the ground. She took a few seconds to strike at bugs on her body, smashing before she returned to the middle of my swarm, in the position she’d disappeared from.<br/><br/>Annoying, but not impossible to deal with, as long as I could figure out how exactly she worked. What did she carry along? Did she need sight of her target? Could she decide how long she staid?<br/><br/>I went to work, using real silk to target the area around her eyes, while using my magic to keep her occupied otherwise.<br/><br/>“<em>Fulgur</em>,” I spoke, charging my bugs. I wasn’t necessarily strong when it came to raw magic power, but I hit her point blank from over a hundred different directions, sending her into a spasming fit. It took a fair amount of energy, but it seemed to help in incapacitating her.<br/><br/>Rolling over the ground, she tried to teleport again, appearing a few feet away from her starting position, a bit above the ground, leading to an immediate fall to the floor.<br/><br/>She needed concentration to target, and I was taking that away. This would work, as long as I could get her completely disabled without inflicting permanent damage. Which was easily said, but would take me a bit to actually do.<br/><br/>After half a minute or so, the girl stopped teleporting around, having her herself too much with her ineffective teleports. I breathed out a sigh of relief, and was about to go looking for a phone, when I noticed a flaw in my plan.<br/><br/>The young woman hadn’t been my principle opponent. She’d been the distraction. While I’d been dealing with the parahuman, the Red Court Vampire had escaped its flesh-suit, and the silk binding it, somehow.<br/><br/>I dispersed the swarm that had been attacking, using them to look through the area, adding in more bugs that had still been hiding in buildings. They were sluggish, and had some difficulties with the increasing rain, but I had a rough read on where he would be, so the area I’d have to cover was much smaller than the entirety of my range.<br/><br/>Quite quickly, I found him, closer than he’d been before, smelling at the air while his paws were busy with a device in his hands.<br/><br/>A phone, the screen not working correctly when confronted with the pouring rain and his clawed hands. Was he sending a message? Trying to call someone? Either way, I’d have to put a stop to him, so I’d have to use one of the simplest tricks I knew.<br/><br/>“<em>Hexus</em>” I spoke, my mind connecting to the flies that had found the vampire, and the effect spreading from there, instantly destroying the device.<br/><br/>I’d done something right, because the threw it away in anger, breathed in through his nose some more, and started running.<br/><br/>Straight towards me… That was less than optimal. Quick as a fly, I went through my backpack, looking for something I’d normally put in my utility compartment. A small inscribed piece of wood, thaumaturgically linked to two others, one located in the PRT base, another in a police station across town. I send a small magical pulse through it, attracting the other two sticks, which would point my way and alert someone to the change. It wasn’t as good as a phone, but it would give the PRT my position, and I could actually keep it working for longer than a day or two.<br/><br/>Knowing someone would be on his way to help out and pick up the trash, I got out my combat knife, and prepared myself for the vampire’s arrival.<br/><br/>It escaping had been annoying. Sure, I could try again, but my swarm was hampered by the weather, and I didn’t have my full energy reserves. If I failed here, I probably wouldn’t be able to cast if the vampire actually reached me, so it was probably best to let him approach first, allowing me to take follow up my magical attack with a blade and my fists. I’d trained with Lieutenant Murphy in the last few months, and I was pretty confident in my hand-to-hand skills. I wasn’t going to be defeated by a single vampire the way I’d been humiliated after meeting Harry for the first time.<br/><br/>It’d take a minute or so for my swarm to make its way to my position, but I was protected and armed, and had a small group of them around me to assist in my spellcasting. Harry had recommended that I get myself a gun for cases just like this, but Revel had nixed that. All fine and good from a PR perspective, but a .44 caliber gun would really help out right about now. I was just happy I still had my knife, which I was pretty sure wouldn’t be allowed if I’d joined the Wards.<br/><br/>I spotted the vampire, slavering drugged saliva from its mouth as it crawled along the ground, teeth long and white. Its skin was limy, the layer normally between its true body and the human form still clinging to it, the thick liquid providing it a measure of protection from my bugs.<br/><br/>“What do you want, vampire?” I asked, standing up with my knife in my hand.<br/><br/>It reacted, standing upright, observing me.<br/><br/>“Skitter, I presume?” it asked, the words slightly slurred by its deformed mouth. “We’ve been looking for you,”<br/><br/>Well, that wasn’t something I wanted to hear. Why were the vampires after me? Wasn’t it Harry they had a problem with? Or did they want to get at him through me? I knew the ghost-killer Harry had met last night was after me, so did this mean the vampires and the killer ghost were working together?<br/><br/>“Well, I haven’t been looking for you,” I replied. “Now leave, or I’ll make you leave.”<br/><br/>“Big words for a little girl,” it said, its tongue flicking around its mouth, wetting its lips.<br/><br/>This was going to be difficult. I wasn’t sure if I had the magical mojo to spell it down, and the majority of my swarm was still making its way towards me. I could try to buy some time, but there was no guarantee that would help, and vampires were generally smart enough to see a blatant play for time coming. That left me with one more option. Rush in and take it down, using its own strength against it.<br/><br/>“Lucky for you, I know even bigger ones,” I replied. “<em>Fulgur!</em>” I shouted as I dashed forwards, lightning zapping along the wet exterior of the vampire. It wasn’t affected to the degree the cape had been, either because its skin had a higher resistance than a human, or simply because it was more resilient. It was, however, a useful distraction.<br/><br/>The beast tried to strike at me, its aim wildly off, and the knowledge my bugs gave me meant he wasn’t going to hit me by accident. I dove beneath the strike, bringing up my knife and slashing its arm open.<br/><br/>Almost immediately, it cried out, taking a step back to reorient before dashing back towards me. It was angry, blood seeping from its arm as it bared its fangs and swiped at me with his other hand.<br/><br/>It was faster than me, but I had bugs all over its body to track its movement, and had experience fighting Tera West, whose predatory instincts were far more refined than those of this thing.<br/><br/>I danced past the strike, bringing my cloak in between us, covering it and the area with bugs to take away his sight of me while I could keep track of him through my power.<br/><br/>Was this any other day, I would’ve gone for the belly instead, the place where they stored the blood of their victims. Open that up, and you literally bled them dry. But I’d been feeling especially useless today, and I wasn’t going to lose to a Red.<br/><br/>I took a few mosquitos, guiding them to my blade as I put a small magical energy signature on them to keep track of which ones they were. If nothing else, it would be useful to have some of this thing’s blood in case I needed to use thaumaturgy on it.<br/><br/>The vampire clawed wildly at my cloak, hoping to use its overpowering strength and speed to take me down, but speed meant very little if your enemy could figure out your moves just as fast as you could. I ducked down again, this time kicking out. The blow made contact, striking at the vampire’s maybe-ankle right as it puts its weight on it.<br/><br/>Ligaments tore, and the vampire’s limb twisted in a way I was quite certain it wasn’t supposed to, destroying the joint.<br/><br/>The creature, no longer able to support its own weight, fell, and I held my combat knife up, letting gravity poke out the creature’s eye.<br/><br/>I let go once the knife was in and took a step back while the vampire flailed around wildly, only increasing the damage done by the blade stuck in its eye socket.<br/><br/>It wasn’t down yet, but I still had my combat baton, and my swarm was almost here. A few more well-aimed strikes, and I’d have a high-ranking prisoner. He’d been turned, given actual immortality instead of just promises and addictive substances.<br/><br/>The vampire rolled over, pulling the blade from its eye and stood up again, heaving and moaning, its tongue hanging out of its horrid mouth.<br/><br/>I took a single step forwards, my enhanced spatial awareness making sure he was just on the edge of my range, and made a large sweep with my crowbar, striking the beast in its temple. I then took a step back, manoeuvring myself so that I could retrieve my knife from the ground. The spellcasting and fighting was starting to tire me out, and I’d have to end this quickly.<br/><br/>The vampire lunged, but my ever-increasing swarm obscured its vision, and it aimed to the side of me. I took advantage of its mistake, swinging my baton underhanded into the creature’s stomach just as it thought it would be clawing at my face.<br/><br/>The beast rolled over, unable to scream as blood seeped from its mouth. I kicked it over, placing it on its back, then stomped on its belly again, the liquid sloshing around wildly inside of it.<br/><br/>As most of my swarm finally arrived, I set it to the creation of more silk to bind my captive while I took a much-needed breather, and used the bugs I’d left behind to check on my other prisoners. They were still stuck, the junkies rolling around to escape while the cape was too hurt to try and the mercenary had simply given up.<br/><br/>I finally retrieved my knife from the ground, looking at the bound vampire before scouting the area. In my hurry to gather reinforcements towards me, I’d been forced to sacrifice coverage for density, and I’d lost sight of quite a few streets and alleyways.<br/><br/>The streets were empty, emptier than I’d expected the night before Halloween, and somewhere in my fight with the vampire, the streetlights had gone out, probably while I’d hexed the phone. I hadn’t really noticed because I was used to fighting in the dark, having been in a team with Grue.<br/><br/>I send out my swarm again, spreading through the nearby streets while I waited for reinforcements to arrive, hoping I hadn’t missed anyone else sneaking up on me.<br/><br/>I had.<br/><br/>Somehow, the group I’d just taken out had managed to get a message through, either from the vampire, or through some other method, and now, people were approaching from all sides, stalking through the alleyways and streets.<br/><br/>A lot of effort for a lone vigilante, but the one I’d taken out had already said they’d been looking for me.<br/><br/>I called my swarm to me, hoping that reinforcements would quickly arrive while looking for an escape route. There was a nearby entryway to the undertown, just half a block away, if I could reach that, I’d be able to…<br/><br/>I ran, trained legs sending me forwards into a nearby alleyway, where I knew two vampires were waiting, one in its flesh-suit, the other clinging to a wall on the side in its true form.<br/><br/>The standing man opened fire the moment I turned the corner, the bullets smashing into my hardened cloak. It held but the impact hurt and I wasn’t sure if I’d cracked a rib or not as I was thrown back just a bit by the impact.<br/><br/>Normally, the thing in movies where people flew back after getting hit by a shotgun was nonsense. With a vampire? Using a gun powerful enough that normal humans couldn’t actually use it? Perfectly reasonable.<br/><br/>As I stumbled to get my feet properly under me, the second vampire pounced, hoping to take me by surprise. Luckily, my bugs perfectly informed me of its movements, and I managed to hold out my knife like a spear meeting a cavalry charge, the sharp tip meeting the beast’s fat belly.<br/><br/>Crawling out from under the vampire, the flesh-suit stepped forward and grabbed my cloak while i was still distracted, and lifted me up.<br/><br/>“Annoying little bitch!” he spat out in equal measures of saliva and words. I held my lips carefully pressed together until he was done speaking, and replied with a single word answer.<br/><br/>“<em>Fulgur!</em>”<br/><br/>Lightning raced through the vampire’s body, and I managed to twist myself out of its grip, running past it in exhaustion without taking the time to disable it. The rest of the horde was now hot on my heels, and I didn’t have the time.<br/><br/>Running through the alleyway, I sensed them turning the corner behind me, and was promptly thrown backwards, landing ass-first on the ground.<br/><br/>Telekinetics? I stood up again, obscuring the area behind me with my swarm as I noticed a glowing line on the ground in front of me, one I remembered seeing before.<br/><br/>Turning around, I saw one of the vampires step out in front of the others. It wasn’t wearing human skin, and it looked somehow even more disgusting than the others, its teeth rotten and missing, Its skin pale and it was missing its slime in some places.<br/><br/>“Why are ya runnin Skits?” Skidmark asked. “Aren’t we all bloodsuckers here?”<br/><br/>I swallowed a lump that was coming up in my throat, and felt a vague sense of shame that I would ever be afraid of Skidmark of all people, even if he’d turned and was now leading a small army of vampires.<br/><br/>“Speak for yourself shit-for-brains,” I replied, wiping my knife clean on the edge of my cloak. I’d stopped trying to bring the phone towards me, instead trying to call 911 on it at a distance. This was going to be a problem.<br/><br/>I checked my options. I had a small cross hidden away in a pocket, but I wasn’t all that religious, and it wouldn’t work all that well on red court vampires either. I could start a general panic, but that wouldn’t help me in the here and now. I could…<br/><br/>I’d have to take out Skidmark first, no matter what I managed to think up.<br/><br/>“Y’know, I love myself a feisty one,” Skidmark replied. “Haven’t had one of those since mah lil piglet left me.”<br/><br/>“You want me? Come and get me,” I replied. “Just you and me, or are you scared of a little girl?”<br/><br/>Skidmark’s crooked vampire mouth smiled, and he stepped forward, making crude movements with his body, but the rest of the vampires seemed to stay back.<br/><br/>I’d need to finish this fast, taking out Skidmark would hopefully take down the barrier behind me, allowing me to flee into the undercity, where the locals would be just as angry at me as they’d be at the vampires.<br/><br/>I took a step forwards, and Skidmark’s coked out reflexes were immediate, stepping to the side before I could get anywhere close to him.<br/><br/>I did so again, quickly feinting left and right, trying to spot any weakness in his defenses. Training with Murphy had made me good, but I couldn’t underestimate my enemy, even if it was Skidmark.<br/><br/>He was fast, his reflexes insane, but he wasn’t exactly good. He fell for every feint I made, and there was no grace to his movements. I could work with that.<br/><br/>I lunged forward, aiming roughly for his face with my knife, and he dodged to the side before I could get anywhere close. I took advantage of the movement, changing our relative positions. As I struck to the left, he dodged to the right, and vise versa. Manipulating that, I turned us around, my back to the horde of vampires, while his was towards the area affected by his own ability.<br/><br/>“What the hell do you want with me?” I asked, gathering my remaining energy.<br/><br/>“Bait,” Skidmark replied with a twisted smile.<br/><br/>“So what, you want to get at Myrddin through me? Then why invite him?” I asked. I just needed a second or so.<br/><br/>“The Pissard? Nah girl, we just wan our Nightmare back,” he replied.<br/><br/>I concentrated, hoping I could get even a fraction of the type of sheer magical muscle Harry possessed, and shouted “<em>Forzare!</em>”<br/><br/>Skidmark was thrown backwards by the wave of force, hitting the barrier provided by his own ability in mid-air. It turned him around, launching him back towards me without a measure of control, and I was waiting with my knife, impaling him as he smashed into me.<br/><br/>Unlike the other vampires, he didn’t cry out in pain or struggle, probably because the drugs had gotten to his pain circuitry. Instead, he just whispered something in my ear.<br/><br/>“Aren’t ya fergettin sumthing?”<br/><br/>I tried to push him away the moment I felt the movement start, but it was too late. As Skidmark clung to me, a horde of vampires descended upon us from behind.<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>“You sure you can’t tell me which way she went?” his uncle asked with his trademark smile.<br/><br/>“Look, you’re cute, but if two guys go around looking to stalk a teenage girl, it’s not a good look, okay?” the young woman replied as she cleaned the counter.<br/><br/>“We’re old friends,” he said. “Haven’t seen each other in, well, must have been half a year or so now.”<br/><br/>“Look, all I know is that she left half an hour ago and took a right turn. Can’t really help you with anything else,” she replied.<br/><br/>“Thanks for the help,” Thomas smiled, tipping an imaginary hat as they left the store. As they walked down the streets, the older man turned to him. “Was worth a try, but it’s looking for needles in a haystack.”<br/><br/>“We barely missed her,” he replied. “Not much of a haystack.”<br/><br/>“I guess,” Thomas replied as they walked further down the streets, not bothered by the rain the way mortals were.<br/><br/>He saw a disturbance in the distance. Cop cars, a PRT van, and a flying cape with a lantern. Revel, leader of the local Protectorate.<br/><br/>His uncle had also spotted it, and turned to him once more. “Hey Alec, want to bet your girlfriend was responsible for all this?”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0017"><h2>17. The White Court</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Lara looked around the small coffee shop, lazily fluttering her eyes at everyone she could see. The place was filled to the brim with tasty-looking morsels, but she wasn’t here to feed.<br/><br/>As the day passed, she made sure to see, and be seen. Sometimes, she thought she’d spotted one of them, a human that didn’t quite respond to her powers. Not through the power of true love, but something vaguely similar nonetheless.<br/><br/>That meant that her theory had been right, and that this wasn’t a family member breaking the masquerade for personal profit.<br/><br/>All she had to do now was wait as she sipped her drink. Coffee, black. She disliked these new establishment, given that they generally did not serve alcohol, keeping her dry. Then again, it added some difficulty to the chase. Hunting down prey that was unable to properly resist was simple, but unsatisfying.<br/><br/>A man entered the room. Tall and thin, yet muscular all the same. Long flowing black hair was joined by a horrendous goatee, but from the way the barista’s eyes focussed on the man, this wasn’t a person that needed good looks to make an impression.<br/><br/>She caught his eyes, flaring her power while fluttering her eyelashes. It hadn’t been necessary. Her presence alone had been what brought him here.<br/><br/>The man walked towards her, a veneer of civility and charm hiding his true face as he leaned against the wall next to her.<br/><br/>“This seat taken?” he asked, a charming smile on his lips.<br/><br/>“Depends,” she replied. “I could use a refill.”<br/><br/>“Consider it done,” Heartbreaker said, snapping his fingers at the girl behind the bar, who started pouring new coffee with near-religious fervor.<br/><br/>“Oh, a man with influence,” she smiled, leaning forwards as he sat down.<br/><br/>“You like what you see?” he asked, stroking that horrible, yet strangely charming, goatee of his. “Because I sure do.”<br/><br/>“And direct as well,” she blushed, holding out her hand for him. “Shall we?”<br/><br/><br/></p><p></p><div>
  <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p>
</div><p><br/><br/>“I… I love you,” Nikos said.<br/><br/>“And I love you, little mortal,” she replied, her finger tracing circles on his chest.<br/><br/>“I… I need you, I shouldn’t… How?” he sounded worried, amazed, satisfied, all at the same time.<br/><br/>“I told you my dear, I’m a vampire. You are mine, and I am yours. I want you, and my power makes you want me, which makes you use your power on me to make me want you. Worst part is, there is nothing either of us can do about it.”<br/><br/>“Worst part, or best part?” he asked.<br/><br/>“Both?” she offered, dropping back to the bed. This… this was going to be a problem. She loved Nikos. Sure, most of it was artificial, but he was intelligent, crafty, and powerful. At his side, she could…<br/><br/>No, those were fake feelings, she knew they were fake, just as fake as the ones she could create. Problem was, that didn’t make them any less real.<br/><br/><br/></p><p></p><div>
  <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p>
</div><p><br/><br/>The slice of a kukri, a perfectly aimed bullet, a kick to the groin and the metal husk of a gun thrown to the face.<br/><br/>All four of them dropped as one, and Lara smiled. It felt good to be able to stretch her muscles again, to fight without constantly worrying for her son’s safety. Add to that her completing Nikos’s mission, and the day couldn’t become more perfect.<br/><br/>Stomping down on the throat of the recently emasculated man, she made her way outside, putting on her long white coat as she walked towards her motorcycle. An hour of driving and she would be back home, ready for another round of intense love-making with her beloved. Perhaps they could partake in his new redhead today?<br/><br/>She sat down, the sleek curves of her vehicle perfectly fitting to equally perfect body, and turned it on, twisting the throttle.<br/><br/>Nothing.<br/><br/>She tried again, waiting for the telltale hum of the engine, the vibrations against her body, but it wasn’t working.<br/><br/>Frustrated, she leapt off of the bike, inspecting the engine.<br/><br/>A cable had been cut, and the fuel hose had been sabotaged. But who had…<br/><br/>“Sister?” a voice called out, and she looked up.<br/><br/>Her little brother, Thomas, stood at the edge of the clearing, knives in hand. Strange, why would he come alone?<br/><br/>She looked around further, finding another half-dozen family members entering the clearing with the small cottage from all sides.<br/><br/>“We’re here to bring you back,” Thomas said. “Father claims to be able to free you from Heartbreaker’s clutches.”<br/><br/>“You were always an idiot Thomas,” she replied, sneering at him. “I love Nikos, and he loves me. I don’t need to be rescued.”<br/><br/>“Your mission obviously failed, but I’m guessing you’re not even able to see that…” Thomas sighed, his skin flaring silver-white. “Guess we’ll have to bring you in the hard way.”<br/><br/>“You wish,” Lara said, holding up her own blades. Just seven of them, then she would be able to go back home, to be with Nikos again. The thought sustained her, gave her the willpower she’d need to get through this.<br/><br/><br/></p><p></p><div>
  <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/></p>
</div><p><br/>Lara’s skin flared as the creature attacked her with its massive arm, and although it was large and fast, she was faster. She ducked, then placed her hands on the ground and pushed herself backwards.<br/><br/>It would’ve worked, had it not been for the after-image, the water striking at her arm, tearing the flesh open and bruising the bone beneath.<br/><br/>Blood slightly too pale for a human slowly seeped down the limb as it started regenerating, and Lara retreated from the frontlines. Her kukris had drawn blood, but only superficially so, and her firearms wouldn’t work either. It didn’t matter, she wasn’t here to kill the beast, she had a different intention today.<br/><br/>She’d needed an excuse to be on the streets if she was going to complete her mission, therefore she had to have been seen fighting the Endbringer. Acting here without assisting in defense of the city would only call attention to their activities, which was very much not the point of their endeavor.<br/><br/>Her alibi provided, she looked through her elegant mask for her half-brother, Thomas Raith. She hated him for what he’d done in tearing her away from her love, but she knew it had been necessary. Just as their current mission was necessary.<br/><br/>The oblivion war was a strange thing. At its core, it was a war about a lack of knowledge There were creatures, dark gods and other such things, that drew their power from people’s awareness of them. Without that awareness, they would be unable to act, too weak to do anything but slowly die off.<br/><br/>At least, that was the idea. Consign knowledge of these beings to oblivion, and they would be defeated. Problem was, they had absolutely no way to know for sure whether they had actually won even once. After all, any success would be marked by the inability of absolutely anyone to remember either their opponents or their victories.<br/><br/>The war had been raging for millennia, fought behind the shadows, and these days, it was looking a bit silly. Yes, these ancient, dark gods were dangerous, rivals feasting on the same prey the White Court did, and overal quite horrible creatures. But so were the Endbringers, as well as monstrosities like the Sleeper, and those could not be defeated by literally ignoring them to death..<br/><br/>The White Court, or rather, the Raiths, had been relatively unharmed by this new phenomenon. Sure, their prey could sometimes get abilities, even in the middle of feeding, but the Raiths fed on lust, pleasure, sex. Their supernatural abilities allowed them to charm someone into fucking themselves senseless willingly. Not exactly the type of situation that would lead to a trigger. The worst thing to happen to them so far had been Heartbreaker, who had, in many ways, mostly just broken her heart. The other families of the White Court, as well as the reds and the blacks, had had a worse time of it. Sometimes it seemed like not a month would go by without some poor idiot from Malvora terrifying their victim into melting heads off.<br/><br/>Eventually, Thomas found her, surprising her by jumping up the side of the roof with an attractive young lady in skintight spandex in his arms. She was unconscious, several of her limbs broken during the fight.<br/><br/>“You actually went in directly? Are you insane?” her little brother asked, acknowledging the wound the afterimage had given her.<br/><br/>“I made sure not to leave the house on an empty stomach,” she responded.”It will heal.”<br/><br/>“So what was the plan? Stab the city-killer with a knife?” Thomas asked. “You’re not Alexandria, this thing could kill you in a single good hit.”<br/><br/>Just as he did, Lara could hear a loud thud in the background. Alexandria, or someone like it, crashing into Leviathan and actually managing to hurt it. Lara looked at her kukri, the knife’s edge dulled from the beast’s tough skin. She prided herself on her skill with the weapon, even though direct attacks were generally not how vampires of the White Court operated.<br/><br/>“Spread misinformation, make sure people saw me. There is little reason to join the fight if we do not use the reputation it gives us. After all, there is very little we can do here,” she replied.<br/><br/>“I have to disagree,” Thomas said, placing the colourful teenager he was holding on the roof, and pressing the button on the cape’s armband before sending a message through the microphone. “Got a disabled cape here, needs a mover to help out, she’s on the roof.”<br/><br/>“That should be enough, we should move,” Lara said, smashing her armband against a piece of stone sticking out of the roof before taking off further into the city, not waiting to see whether or not her brother would follow.<br/><br/>She dashed over rooftops eventually dropping down to the half-sunken streets once the rooftops stopped being level with each other. Once there, she jumped from car to car, trying to keep the water on the ground from slowing her down. After about five minutes, she was well removed from the fight, almost entirely alone in the area, followed only by her brother, who arrived several seconds after her.<br/><br/>“So, can you finally tell me what the mission is?” he asked.<br/><br/>“This,” she said, motioning at the large office building standing before them. “Medhall. It is a medical company, but in addition to that, it is also a front for a local gang called the Empire Eighty-Eight, a white supremacist group. Skin colour, not court, before you make another one of those abominations you call jokes.”<br/><br/>Her brother took in the sight, shaking his head once he saw Medhall’s logo. The humans had, predictably, confused the rod of Asclepius with a Caduceus, putting one snake too many on their pictogram.<br/><br/>“One of their number, a man called Hookwolf, has a reputation for fighting anything and anyone he comes across, including, at least once, the Stygian Sisterhood. He is in possession of one of their tomes. Quite recently, the majority of the people in their organisation was unmasked, and the mortal authorities searched this building. They found a hidden subcellar, protected by what seems to be a tinkertech vault, and they were planning on how to break into it when our good friend Leviathan arrived,” she explained.<br/><br/>“So, while everyone else is busy fighting that thing, we’re breaking in and destroying the tome.” Thomas said.<br/><br/>“And we either hope that Hookwolf has the manners to die in the fight, or someone gets rid of him afterwards, making sure that no-one even knew the book existed.”<br/><br/>“So all we have to do is break into a highly secure vault filled with Nazi treasure? Sounds fun!”<br/><br/>The two of them made their way inside, and quickly realized one of the problems with their plan.<br/><br/>Their target was in a sub-basement, and half the city was underwater right now.<br/><br/>Luckily, they weren’t kine, and did not need to gather diving equipment first. Instead, they simply used the abilities their hunger gave them to hold their breaths for extended amounts of time..<br/><br/>The vault itself was secure, but not as secure as it needed to be. The thing was made out of steel, with some sort of electrical defensive shield that had shorted out because of the flood, allowing them easy acces after they used their enhanced strength to tear their way through the locks, and found that the top half of the water-tight facility was still filled with air, allowing them to breathe once again, at least momentarily.<br/><br/>Inside, they found what must have been a Nazi trophy room. Genuine SS uniforms were joined by an assortment of mystical and mundane artefacts, most of them once associated with the Thule society, and there were more modern items taken from what must have been defeated capes.<br/><br/>“So, dear sister, I never asked, but all those rumours you hear about the germans being into the occult?”<br/><br/>“True, all of it,” Lara replied.<br/><br/>“Then what didn’t go to Brazil must have ended up here somehow. I mean, I recognize some of these things.”<br/><br/>“Then grab what takes your fancy. We don’t anyone to know we were only interested in the book,” Lara replied, setting her sights on the tome, and putting it in a small backpack. They would destroy it later, after confirming it was what they had been looking for.<br/><br/>Thomas walked around the room like a kid in a candy store, grabbing a knife, what looked to be a tinkertech gun, and old revolver, some old medals, and the hat from the uniform, depositing them in an Nazi backpack of some sort.<br/><br/>Just as he was about to finish, Lara felt the earth shake around them, followed by movement in the water moving around them, another tidal wave.<br/><br/>“Let’s leave before this place sinks even further,” she stated, taking a mouthful of air and descending into the water again, leaving the underwater vault and the building.<br/><br/>As she reached the surface outside, she saw that the water had risen noticeably. Or perhaps the city itself was sinking. Most of the cars were completely submerged now, their roofs visible just below the surface. It was still pouring rain, and she could feel something powerful and twisted in the air.<br/><br/>As her brother and fellow Venator rose from the depths, she motioned towards a nearby roof where they could observe the situation and create an exit strategy.<br/><br/>What she saw once she had climbed her way to the top of the building shocked her. She had seen many things in her centuries long life, but this was a relatively rare sight, and to have it happen so publically was pretty much new to the parahuman age.<br/><br/>A floating green figure, the Eidolon, was creating a massive sphere of black thunder, holding it out before him as it radiated energy and might.<br/><br/>For an attack, the word massive did not do it justice. The orb had a radius roughly equal to a city block, crackling and sucking out the light from its surroundings. Had someone trapped the Leviathan? Was this their newest attempt at taking it down once and for all?<br/><br/>Slowly, the attack started moving downwards, sinking, ever closer to the ground.<br/><br/>The moment of impact, obscured by buildings and distance, was marked by a shockwave, and a strange trick of the light, turning everything into a negative for a short moment, as well as stilling all sound, and blowing away the rain for just a second..<br/><br/>When the chaos was over, the area beneath Eidolon was simply gone, removed from the earth, a great gaping hole quickly filling itself with seawater..<br/><br/>In the distance, the battle raged on, Leviathan still lived, and her little brother dashed forwards, towards the site of impact.<br/><br/>“Idiot!” she yelled, chasing after him.<br/><br/>Luckily, Thomas hadn’t gone for the obvious target. Instead, he was at a building that had collapsed in the chaos, trying to rescue a young woman from the wreckage. She was masked, wearing some sort of stone-based armor all over her body, but it hadn’t been enough to protect her, she was bleeding everywhere. She’d run out of blood within minutes, and given the general mayhem caused by the blast, she wasn’t going to make it, even with the parahuman healers around.<br/><br/>“She’s already gone brother,” she said, looking for other survivors in the rubble.<br/><br/>As her eyes spotted another cape, a young man with dark hair, her heart skipped a beat.<br/><br/>The boy was bleeding. One of his ribs was visible, sticking through his torn, reinforced blouse,and there was a bleeding stump where his right arm used to be. His Venetian-style mask, a passable replica, had been ripped away from his face, and was lying on his chest, barely attached with a piece of string. Dark curly hair, that same lanky look, but with her creamy skin...<br/><br/>“Empty night,” she cursed.<br/><br/>“What is it?” Thomas asked, but Lara ignored it, walking towards the boy, touching him, smelling him. It was him, had to be.<br/><br/>“Thomas… this is...” she stroked the boys hair, fingers moving tenderly over a small cut on his forehead. These wounds were lethal, just as lethal as the woman’s had been, at least for a human.<br/><br/>But… why wasn’t he regenerating? Hadn’t he awakened yet? Had he found true love, growing up with Heartbreaker of all people, or was there some sort of interference?<br/><br/>“Lara, step back. This is probably some sort of Stranger effect,” Thomas said, but she ignored it. This was her son, she knew it. It had to be.<br/><br/>Inquisitively, she brought forth her hunger, poking with it at her child.<br/><br/>She felt something, inside of him. Small, weak, hidden beneath the weight of his parahuman ability, but still there. She roused it, knowing full well that this went against their customs, their habit of keeping their children ignorant, letting them choose for themselves.<br/><br/>“Damn…” her son said, his eyes open and looking at her, the Hunger inside him almost palpable now. “Are you the goddess of tits?”<br/><br/>“Not now, my son,” she replied, taking hold of him and pulling him towards the near-dead cape. “Just… do what comes naturally.”<br/><br/></p><p></p><div>
  <p>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***</p>
</div><p><br/>“So why’d I have to be the tin can again?” Alec asked, looking around the party. There was one thing he had to admit, reds knew how to build a mood, what with all the sacrifice victims again.<br/><br/>“Because I’m the tall one,” his uncle replied, almost completely naked but for some underwear and the golden bodypaint.<br/><br/>“Everyone’ll think you’re Scion anyway,” he said. “Couldn’t you wear like, an actual costume?”<br/><br/>“But then everyone would miss out on my rugged good looks!” Thomas replied. “Plus, you should shut up, R2 only communicates in beeps.”<br/><br/>“Beep beeeeb, beep beep beep, beep beep beep,” he replied.<br/><br/>“When’d you learn morse anyway, ya lil dweep?” Thomas asked.<br/><br/>“Father insisted, after I got my powers,” Alec replied.<br/><br/>“Right. Well, let’s see. If you were an evil bloodsucking vampire, where would you keep your teenage girl sacrifices captive?” Thomas said, mostly asking himself.<br/><br/>“Secret basement?” he suggested?<br/><br/>“Sounds about right,” Thomas replied. “You see any hidden entrances?”<br/><br/>Alec looked around. Roman centurion, skeleton bride, vampire queen, refreshment table, big bowl of spiked punch, but nothing quite like a secret entrance to the basement they could sneak through. Looking back to the entrance though, he spotted the newest visitors to the party, a tall man dressed like the count from sesame street, joined by an Asian lady in an old-fashioned black ball gown, a handkerchief with fake blood tied around her neck, and an overly large handbag.<br/><br/>“Heh, looks like my little brother arrived,” Thomas said. “You think that’s his girlfriend?”<br/><br/>“Nahh,” Alec said. “Pretty sure he brought his boss.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0018"><h2>18. Final Feast, Part 1</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>A soft rain impacted against the window of the office, a smooth, almost rhythmic noise that drowned out the sounds of the city. Outside, cars traveled to and from, unaware of the dangers of the parahuman age.<br/><br/>Out of the corner of her eye, she could see her old CRT monitor sputtering, trying to fight against the influence of the Wizard’s presence. A valiant effort was given, but it would ultimately be in vain, putting more pressure on the office’s budget. Not her problem though, not right now. She had bigger problems to wrangle.<br/><br/>“I never should have trusted you,” she said, arms folded, a grimace that would normally be hidden by her mask now clearly visible. “This wouldn’t have happened if I’d placed her in the Wards.”<br/><br/>“She would have hated every second of it, and you for making her do it” Myrddin replied.<br/><br/>“And she wouldn’t be dead, if not worse,” she snapped back. “What’s the chance we’ll find her running around the streets, killing grade-schoolers for their blood? Just how exactly do these vampires work?”<br/><br/>“I’m not sure of the bloody details, but you can’t fully turn without killing someone, then drinking their blood. I’m not sure how her being a cape would influence that, but she’s not a killer.”<br/><br/>Revel floated back and forth through the room, her power kicking into overdrive as she racked her brain for a way out of this. All this magical bullshit was getting on her nerves, and she hated to admit that she was out of her depth. This wasn’t a cape-fight, where neither party knew what they were actually doing. They were dealing with supernatural nations, intricate webs of global politics amongst creatures that ate people for breakfast. Even the tiny shreds Myrddin and his mentor had shared with her were enough to convince her of that.<br/><br/>“So, purely theoretically, if we were to grab all our capes, whatever special unit the mayor can lend us, and call in the National Guard, how would they react? These guys are scared of humanity, right? That’s why you all hide in the shadows?”<br/><br/>“Less scared and more… too much of a bother? This isn’t some troll hiding beneath a bridge we’re talking about. Whether I like it or not, the White Council has a truce with them because they’re dangerous, and widespread. More than that, there’s other factions like the White Court, who don’t want their dirty lingerie aired either.”<br/><br/>“That’s the sexy vampires right? From Twilight? I’m guessing they have super-strength or something?”<br/><br/>“That, and all the dangers that comes from having a global society of Master/Stranger types with centuries to amass political power.”<br/><br/>“So another massive headache I’ll have to take into account, great,” Revel groaned, still floating back and forth, pacing without moving her feet.. She wasn’t entirely unaccustomed to politics in crime-fighting, you didn’t get that far in Chicago without running into some kind of widespread corruption, but in those cases she had a team, and experience, to count on. In this case, she was dealing with a different species, and the man she’d ask for help was on the other side of the world for a ‘business trip’, leaving her with only Myrddin to guide her through magical geopolitics.<br/><br/>“Look, before we start making use of our nation’s wonderfully over-militarized police force, I have another idea,” Harry said. “Bianca’s holding an official party, with costumes, because she’s getting a promotion for something she did, probably related to the parahumans in her gang, and in accordance with the Accords, she’s invited the local representative for the White Council, and asked him to bring a plus one. We’ll use that as a pretext, get into the party, bust Skitter out from the inside, and maybe take out Kraven’s ghost in the meantime.”<br/><br/>“Kraven? Is this another obscure reference to a second century series of Greek plays?”<br/><br/>“I want to say yes, but I’m not being funny, I just can’t remember his real name.”<br/><br/>“Very well, so you want to go ruin their party instead. And what kind of assurance do we have that we won’t have to deal with a bunch of angry vampires, but without backup of any sort?”<br/><br/>“The Accords,” Harry explained. “The Queen of the Winter Court set them up, and breaking their rules like that gets you in trouble with her, whoever you betrayed, and any other faction that wants to take advantage of your temporary political weakness.”<br/><br/>“So, we’re banking on it that they won’t do anything to break these Accords…” Revel said.<br/><br/>“Problem is, we can’t break the Accords either,” Harry said. “If I go into the party using the invitation, I’ll have to play by the same rules.”<br/><br/>“And I’m guessing my actions are also judged by those same rules if I come along?” Harry nodded. “Well, I can work with that. I have a plan.”<br/><br/>“So, what is it?” Harry asked.<br/><br/>Revel smirked.<br/><br/>“We go in there, we bust Skitter out, we deal with the creepy ghost-warlock, we congratulate a vampire on her future arrest, and we raid the bar for drinks, not necessarily in that order. But first, costumes!”<br/><br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/><br/>“Ahahahahaaaa” she laughed, her head thrown back as she cackled.<br/><br/>“No, you’ve got to enunciate zhe Ah’s,” Harry replied, “Vone ah, two ah, three ah.”<br/><br/>“Very Vunny, now let’s get zhis party started,” Revel said, unable to stop herself from joining in with the accent. Why, exactly, her accent would become transylvanian if she were a vampire, she didn’t quite know, but it seemed to be the right thing to do, getting into character before they arrived. Doing costumes the right way was something all capes could agree on.<br/><br/>The enemies’ nest, so to speak, was the Velvet Room, a gentleman’s club located at the lakeside that had once been built by Al Capone to house one of his mistresses. Gentleman’s club, in this case, meant that it was a club where men legally visited to legally hang out with each other that happened to legally also have women that were very legally almost naked and would have sex with those men, not for money, but because they wanted to, and perhaps also for money because it was a brothel. Which would, of course, be illegal, so it obviously wasn’t that and if you wanted to claim that it was what it actually was then you’d need a lot of evidence and even more manpower.<br/><br/>Finding crime to fight in Chicago sucked. On the surface, she knew, there were plenty of criminals around. Thugs, murderers, dealers and muggers, each of them part of a rich ecosystem. But over the years, the real players had mostly managed to inoculate themselves against persecution.<br/><br/>The biggest one was Marcone, who somehow managed to hide a small army capable of holding off a magical werewolf apparently created by a medieval saint. Others, like Bianca, had hidden their illicit business behind a thin veneer of legitimacy, and a whole lot of rich and powerful friends and clients.<br/><br/>Plus, perhaps, some mind control to make her victims clear her of wrongdoing… If all the members of Bianca’s gang had Master abilities, they’d have to re-examine a lot of old cases for possible influences after this. Having high-level politicians working for the other side would be a problem for the incoming conflict.<br/><br/>As their taxi stopped in front of the manor, Harry stood up first, opening the door on her side, then offering her a hand. She ignored the gesture, restraining herself from lashing out at him for the behavior. As Myrddin, Harry had an excuse to be somewhat old-fashioned in his chauvinistic treatment of women. Sadly, that wasn’t just a marketing gimmick, but his actual behavior.<br/><br/>“Don’t want to look weak in front of the predators,” she replied, holding her head up as she looked at the bouncers standing at the mansion’s gate.<br/><br/>The rain, thankfully, had stopped, and evening was falling over Chicago. In the distance, she could see the last remaining rays of sunlight disappear behind the horizon. Now was the time of darkness, of creatures of the night, hiding among humanity, lying in wait until they could strike.<br/><br/>They looked human. Bulky but not unrealistically so, wearing a cheap suit with an earpiece, a pistol carried in a manner that was not quite open, but not quite concealed either. They looked professional, maybe a bit too professional for the muscle of a normal gang.<br/><br/>Harry handed over his invitation, and the guards’ disposition became slightly more suspect once they figured out who they were dealing with. How in the know were they? Had they just been warned about a H. Dresden? Did they know the two of them were capes?<br/><br/>Either way, the two of them were led through, and they walked up a short path towards the mansion’s entrance, past little alcoves that were currently abandoned, but obviously romantic in the right setting. The front garden as a whole was, while not ugly, more evocative of privacy than beauty, in contrast to the thick mahogany of the front door, which enticed people inwards. Another guard checked their invitation before the large doors swung open, leading into a dark hallway, flanked by small alcoves with classical statues in them of the clothless variety. The statues were well-lit pools of light within the darkness, giving the interior an ominous feeling as shadows shifted in front of them. Through half-open doors, she could see people wearing black or red, entertaining themselves with drinks and other, more carnal, diversions. Or perhaps carnivorous would be a better word to use her.<br/><br/>“So, what are these parties like?” Revel asked.<br/><br/>“I’ve never been to one, but we’ll be announced, followed by some time to mingle, after which we’ll have the official ceremony, probably with some sarcastic gift-giving.”<br/><br/>“Well, I’m guessing you’ll have that part handled then,” Revel noted as the two of them entered the courtyard of the estate. Flanked by large, dense trees, with solid steel fences in between them to keep out intruders, the party was lit by glowing orbs of flame, held aloft on steel tripods. In the center of the garden was a large dais, with a single throne-like chair raised above an area that seemed to hold ritual significance. People, teenagers really, clad in cheap goth costumes roamed around, drinking too much and covering too little, while among them stalked others wearing red, moving from group to group the same way Myrddin moved between snack tables at Protectorate events.<br/><br/>As she observed the events, so were they in turn observed the guests that were present. Heads turned, fangs bared once they noticed the two intruders dressed as a parody of what they were. After a few seconds, the silence was broken by a servant, in old-fashioned dress.<br/><br/>“Ladies and gentlemen of the Court, I am pleased to present Harry Dresden, Wizard of the White Council, and guest.”<br/><br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/><br/>I took Revel by the arm, pulling her out of the spotlight, to a place where we wouldn’t catch as much attention. It wouldn’t do to start trusting vampires now, especially not after our silly costumes had taken their attention. Hopefully, they would think we were only there to taunt them. Moving between plants, trying not to look at Bianca, who was lording over the proceedings in a dress that was, simply put, incredibly hot, I opened my senses. Not entirely, but enough to get an impression of the area. Hunger, joy of wild abandon, and power filled the air. I focussed in on the last of those three, and tried to distinguish between the terrible things I could feel. Flames and Darkness, blood and love, and beneath that… Yes, Kravos was hiding nearby, just out of sight.<br/><br/>“So, you have any idea where they’d keep their prisoners?” Revel whispered as we walked between groups of people, never close enough for anyone to overhear, as long as they didn’t have, like, super-hearing or something ridiculous like that.”<br/><br/>“Probably in the basement, due to the lack of towers,” I replied. “I can feel something down there, something big, I think It’s Kravos.”<br/><br/>“They have him guarding the prisoner?”<br/><br/>“Could be,” I replied. “Her power is hard to keep in check, so they’d want a specialized guard.”<br/><br/>“If so… I wonder… we didn’t find any connections between Kravos and these people back when we arrested him, so why is he here?”<br/><br/>“Likes a good party?” I asked<br/><br/>“You get what I mean,” Revel said, fake-sipping on a goblet of poisoned blood. “Problem is, we don’t know enough about the politics at play here. Who are most these people anyway?”<br/><br/>“Representatives of the other magical nations and such, as well as other players within the Red Court,” I replied, trying to place all the people around me. The Star Wars cosplayers were obviously White Court, given the fact that the taller man managed to not look entirely ridiculous in what seemed to be exclusively golden body paint. The Roman soldier with the snake on his shield? I had no idea who he could be. Then there was a figure dressed up like someone from a Shakespearean stage-play, clad in pale white cloth with black stripes on it.<br/><br/>“So, mingling first, right?” Revel asked. “Let’s go talk to some people.”<br/><br/>“Talk, yes. People, probably not.”<br/><br/>Revel took the lead, moving between tightly clustered groups of people and vampires with a grace that is only really seen in those who can fly, but keep about ten percent of their weight on the floor out of pity for the rest of us, moving towards the Roman soldier, who was blowing out smoke and holding a cigarette, managing to look down on everyone present even when they were theoretically taller than him.<br/><br/>“Hello, nice to meet you, I’m Revel,” she stated, holding out a hand to the man, who seemed slightly surprised as another cloud of smoke escaped his mouth.<br/><br/>“I highly doubt that,” he replied, then turned away from her without shaking her hand, towards me. “Nevertheless, you may call me Mister Ferro. And you are?”<br/><br/>“Harry Dresden,” I said. “And I have to say, that’s a pretty neat costume.”<br/><br/>“I can’t say the same about yours, Harry Dresden,” the man said, slowly, thoughtfully enunciating every syllable in a precise manner, a strange tongue moving between sharp teeth. I felt it, his attention, his strength, the ancient, ceaseless years behind his eyes. It struck me like a sledgehammer, the way this creature—that had seen civilizations rise and fall—spoke my name.<br/><br/>I stumbled, and Revel caught my shoulder as she observed him. Something within me strained. The parasite, reacting to the presence of something new, trying and failing to do whatever it tried to do. I wondered… would it hold against the thing in front of me? Or would it crumble like I had?<br/><br/>“Hmm, let me guess for a moment,” Revel said, planting her arm firmly under mine, abusing the size difference. “I’ll say… you’re much more impressive than the one in Canada.”<br/><br/>“And you, at least, managed to keep your outfit consistent to a single time-period,” the man, whatever he was, remarked to Revel as I gathered my strength and stood up again.<br/><br/>“Hell’s Bells, how did you do that?” I asked.<br/><br/>“You wouldn’t understand,” he replied with a smirk, taking the unlit cigarette out of his mouth and blowing a small cloud of smoke into my face.<br/><br/>“Please forgive my subordinate’s disrespect,” Revel said, glaring at me from the corner of her eyes. “I would have placed him with the Wards so he could be with people of equal maturity, but regulations got in the way.”<br/><br/>“Typical humans,” Mister Ferro huffed and puffed. “So, Revel…”<br/><br/>Revel blinked, not as stricken as I had been, but she’d obviously noticed something more than just the strange focus on the word itself. She shook her hand, letting down an armband she’d been wearing until the little crystal charm in it fell into her fingers, then looking back at the man, or rather Dragon, in front of us.<br/><br/>“Would you like to try that again?” she said in a dulcet tone, fingers flexing.<br/><br/>“No, that was enough experimentation for today,” Ferro said, a pleased smirk on his face. “I do wonder… The Lady of Newfoundland, could you, as the youngsters say these days… give me her number?”<br/><br/>“I can give you her e-mail, if you know how to use it,” Revel said, drawing her wallet and taking one of the cards she used to hand out signatures.<br/><br/>“That will suffice,” Ferro said, accepting the small piece of paper, then disappearing it into an invisible pocket behind his back.<br/><br/>“So, I was wondering, what is someone like you doing in a backwater like this?” Revel then asked.<br/><br/>“The Red Court still knows how to give gifts, and I am… interested, in Bianca’s work,” he replied, stepping back.<br/><br/>“Well, nice talking to you,” I said, pulling Revel away, then whispering to her as we made some distance. “Hell’s Bells Annabelle, you can’t just walk up and talk to these people, they’re dangerous!”<br/><br/>“Yes, I noticed how he took you down with two words,” she replied. “What was that about anyway?”<br/><br/>“Name stuff, it’s complicated, and I have no idea how he did it with you,” I replied, hating myself. I shouldn’t have brought Revel into danger with me. Sure, she was technically my boss, but she knew near to nothing about the supernatural world, and was basically defenseless against half the threats here.<br/><br/>“Well, at least we know he’s probably not responsible,” Revel said with her head turned to me as she walked back into the party proper, promptly crashing into the gold-painted piece of manhunk we’d spotted before.<br/><br/>“Well, hello there,” the rather handsome predator said, smiling a perfect white smile with perfect predator teeth as he held out an arm to keep an utterly bewitched Revel away from him.<br/><br/>“Vampire Kenobi,” I replied. “You are a bold one.”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0019"><h2>19. Final Feast, Part 2</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“The two of you really need better taste in movies,” the tin can said, obviously R2 now that I recognized their costumes.<br/><br/>“Nothing wrong with the prequels,” I defended myself. Sure, the originals were better, but at least part of that was my nostalgia talking.<br/><br/>“Agreed, as long as you’re talking about the Aleph versions,” the guy in the metal suit—who sounded like a teenager—said.<br/><br/>“What’s that Ar-two,I can only hear Beeps and boops. Is Timmy trapped down a well?” C3PO said as Revel took a few steps backwards, hand clutched around her little crystal.<br/><br/>“Very funny old man,” the kid said.<br/><br/>“I know," the older vampire replied. "Now where are my manners, Thomas Raith,” he said, holding out his hand.<br/><br/>I shook it, “Harry Dresden.”<br/><br/>“So, I’m guessing you’re here to kick some Vampire ass?” he nodding his head towards the nearby reds, who were watching our conversation with interest.<br/><br/>“Not quite,” I lied. “Just here to watch, and honor my invitation.”<br/><br/>“Of course, of course,” Thomas said. “Anyway, this is my Nephew, Alec Raith,”<br/><br/>I saw Revel’s eye shift, same as mine did. Alec… I’d heard that name before, hadn’t I? But where… some place where Revel was also familiar with it. A local case?<br/><br/>“Pleasure to meet you,” Alec said. “Anyway, I”ll let you get to your distractions uncle, I’m going to see if there’s someone my age around.”<br/><br/>I pushed up an eyebrow, then looked at Thomas again. “Distractions?”<br/><br/>“These gatherings tend to get rather boring,” the Raith said. “Might as well have someone interesting to talk to, right?”<br/><br/>“I have to agree,” a silky-smooth familiar voice rang out. I turned, spotting the woman I’d probably wanted to see least of all right now. She was dressed as a woodswoman, sporting a wooden bow she was probably quite good with, though I had trouble spotting the reference.<br/><br/>“Lea…” I stammered.<br/><br/>“Harry, my dear, Have you already replaced the last girl with a new one? I must admit I rather liked her, she was feisty.”<br/><br/>“So am I,” Revel said. “And you are?”<br/><br/>“Where are my manners? I am called Leanansidhe, Harry’s godmother, and thou areth?” the dangerous redhead asked.<br/><br/>“His boss,” she replied giving Lea a once-over. Was she hiding a sawn-off shotgun somewhere in her pockets as well? Was Dovetail’s tiny shotgun a metaphor for something else, and what did that say about Chevalier?<br/><br/>“Hadn’t expected you to show up here, what gives, too afraid to face me where we can fight without interference?” I asked.<br/><br/>“Oh Harry dear…” she said with a sad look on her face “You don’t have to put on a brave face, you’re among friends.”<br/><br/>“You tried to turn me into a fricking Hellhound!”<br/><br/>“For your own good, dear boy,” she replied.<br/><br/>“So what, you’re some sort of… demonic were-wolf fairy?” Thomas asked.<br/><br/>I raised an eyebrow.<br/><br/>“Because she’s your godmother who threatens to turn you into a wolf that’s also from hell?” he explained. “I mean, unless there’s like, three-dozen different ways to turn into a wolf that I don’t know about, it seems like a normal assumption to make?”<br/><br/>“You don’t even know half of it,” I groaned, why did it always have to be wolves? Couldn’t someone get cursed to turn into a murderous bunny or no no no bad Dresden don’t get Monty Python mixed up in this.<br/><br/>“So anyway, nice to finally meet you Myrddin, I’m a huge fan of your work,” Thomas said, then looked from me to Revel, an alluring smile on his face. “Yours slightly less so, though it pains me to say so. It’s just not as flashy.”<br/><br/>“I guess that, from something like you, that’s kind of like a compliment,” Revel said, holding her hand to her heart. Something glowed.<br/><br/>“Anyway, is it true you’re going to give a repeat performance of what happened at Marcone’s estate here?” Thomas then continued, his voice just slightly louder than necessary, and loud enough to gather the attention of every damn vampire in the vicinity.<br/><br/>“Hey,” I waved to the impromptu audience, which was finally torn away from their buffet of Adams family knock-offs.<br/><br/>They grinned back at me, showing off their bloody fangs.<br/><br/>“Don’t worry, Winter Truce, remember?” I told them, trying to take a few steps back, but finding myself running out of space, encircled as we were.<br/><br/>“Don’t worry Harry dear, I can take care of this entire problem quite easily,” Lea offered, stepping towards me, a hand held out.<br/><br/>“Yeah right, by turning me into a dog.”<br/><br/>“I could get the girl out for you,” she offered.<br/><br/>I stared at her, trying to pierce through those soulless, beautiful eyes of her. What was her plan here? Could she rescue Taylor? What would her cost be?<br/><br/>“Another girl, just how much of a player are you?” Thomas asked.<br/><br/>“And of course it’s a vampire asking that,” I snapped back at him. “Seriously, why does everyone assume I’m dating every woman I know?”<br/><br/>“I mean, that’s what I do,” Thomas replied. “Though I currently find myself in the strange and slightly uncomfortable position of already being spoken for, sorry ladies.”<br/><br/>“That’s alright, that just means there’s more for me,” a new voice spoke, male and raspy. It belonged to one of the vampires, still wearing their flesh-suits. A young man that was far better looking than I’d expected of someone with teeth that crooked, and a nose that I’d almost expected to have been broken if it hadn’t been almost entirely eroded by the use of a certain addictive substance that wasn’t blood.<br/><br/>“Ah, one of Bianca’s new toys, I’d honestly expected more,” Leanansidhe said as she looked over the new arrival with an appraising look.<br/><br/>“What’d you say, ya ginger bitch?” the vampire shouted, rushing forwards in anger. Effortlessly, and quick as the wind, Lea sidestepped the man, looking at his backside with disdain.<br/><br/>“Soulless yes, freckles no. And, y’know, glass houses much?” I told him. As much as I hated my fairy godmother, the insult was far too crude for me to let it slide.<br/><br/>“Really now boy? Dost thou think I require defending against raffle like this? I cannot even interpret this as an attack.”<br/><br/>“I’ll get you for that you potato-snorting skank,” the vampire said, anger spread across his face. “Guest right don’t last forever.”<br/><br/>“Skidmark!” A voice shouted. Bianca, sitting on her throne. Her hand held out, her finger pointed downwards. The Vampire grunted for a moment, then shuffled towards his mistress, and sat down on the ground.<br/><br/>Bianca looked at me, staring straight into my eyes. I started looking away in reflex, before I remembered her nature. ‘You’re next’ those eyes said as I looked to the pathetic creature besides her. According to Taylor, he’d been pathetic back in Brockton Bay, and he was even worse here.<br/><br/>Was this her goal? The answer of the Red Court to the Parahuman issue? To turn them and bring them to heel? It made sense in a twisted way. For years now, hunts had gotten interrupted, dinner suddenly getting the ability to fight back, to kill and maim, to make the hunter become the hunted. To turn that around again, to make capes subservient… but how? Just getting a drug dealer high on his own supply to work for you wasn’t exactly impressive.<br/><br/>Bianca, of course, just smiled that twisted smile of her. A smile that said ‘I know something you don’t and you’re going to hate it.’ But what? What was I missing?<br/><br/>“Well that’s uncanny,” Thomas said. “It’s almost like she’s one of us, the way she’s manipulating him.”<br/><br/>“The what now?” Revel asked?<br/><br/>“It’s very… primal, not sure how to describe it, I don’t think she’s tapping into him the way Reds normally are.”<br/><br/>“That’s… poison and addiction, isn’t it?”<br/><br/>“Mostly yeah. With some more mundane means mixed in if they’re smart.”<br/><br/>“Magic…” I whispered under my breath. “The bloodsucking bitch managed to become a practitioner somehow.”<br/><br/>“So, beyond her being a dangerous vampire with parahuman lackeys, she’s also like you now… This mission seems to be getting more complicated by the minute,” Revel remarked. “Not impossible, but complicated.”<br/><br/>Lea’s predatory green eyes latched onto her, was she somehow unaware of our goal here? Was there something else going on?<br/><br/>“Mission? Do tell if thou willst?” she asked<br/><br/>“Without anything in return? Seems a bit of an unfair trade,” Thomas said as he stepped between Revel and Lea.<br/><br/>“I wouldn’t be telling her the truth anyway, so not really,” Revel replied.<br/><br/>I looked at Lea, tried to figure out what was going on in that faerie mind of hers. Why was she here? She knew we were looking for Taylor already, so why would she want to know what our mission was? Was this another of those faerie law things where she was obliged to pretend not to know or something like that?<br/><br/>Suddenly, the lights went out, and something in the crowd shifted. I looked, spotted the Vampires all looking in a single direction. Bianca’s, her dress the sole source of light, and her face and neck smeared with blood, which was now dripping into her décolleté. She stood up from her throne, looking around the garden with bloodshot eyes.<br/><br/>Vampires howled, and I could hear short, near-silent screams. There was a lot less of the ‘cattle’ around right now… had they been killed? Had dozens of children died because we were busy verbally sparring with my godmother?<br/><br/>I gripped my weapon. A cane with a sword hidden in it, the wood carved with runes. An old toy that I’d made in my days back with Eb, but it would have to do when push came to shove. When, not if.<br/><br/>“Greetings, my friends, and congratulations!” Bianca’s voice rang out, to the cheering of her vampire horde. “Today, is a good day. For today, is the day that we return things to the natural order! For too long, we have shivered in fear, our minds filled with the knowledge that at any time, at any moment, that which is rightfully ours will stand and try to murder is! But no more! Today, we stand ascendant! Today, the world will hear about the court of Chicago, and all who would defy us will tremble in fear! Today, we strike at the extradimensional menace that tries to take our prey from us! Today, we stand Victorious!”<br/><br/>The crowd cheered wildly, with inhuman growls and shouts from inhuman throats. Though I couldn’t quite make them out, I knew that several of the Vampires had taken off their flesh-suits, showing their true form in celebration.<br/><br/>“No more will our nation hide in fear! For I have trained the beasts and made them mine. I have taken their weakness, and made it our strength. Mustain, kneel!”<br/><br/>As she continued, I saw Skidmark obey, almost before she’d spoken the words. Was this true, a hijack of the connection somehow? Or was she just lying?<br/><br/>Her hands wove. Magic? Not anything I recognized, but that didn’t say much.<br/><br/>“But first, we have guests, ready to observe our ascendancy! And for that, they deserve gifts!”<br/><br/>Suddenly, light shone into our eyes. Heavy spotlights, installed on the roofs, aiming straight at all the guests, including our little group. Lea, I noticed, had silently left, standing in a different part of the gardens, standing next to, and just in front of, a young woman with green hair.<br/><br/>“Mister Ferro, Would you do us the honour of accepting a token of my goodwill?”<br/><br/>Ferro stepped forwards, steadily making his way across the garden, cigarette in his mouth. As he approached the dais, he gave a short nod of his head towards Bianca, and ascended its stairs. She bowed in return, and someone wearing a hood walked up, bearing a small bottle.<br/><br/>“The essence of the enemy, stolen, bottled and corked!” She pronounced, swirling the round glass bottle, the metallic liquid inside slowly sloshing around. “Take it for yourself, or reward a loyal servant.”<br/><br/>“Why thank you, a fine offering,” the Dragon replied, handling the potion, then walking back down.<br/><br/>“Is that even possible?” Revel whispered.<br/><br/>“Not that I know…” I whispered back. Then again, “I don’t know” was generally the normal response I had to stuff regarding powers.<br/><br/>Bianca smiled, then looked around some more. Had she hoped he would drink it? Was she really under the impression that Ferro was that foolish?<br/><br/>“And Thomas Raith, I see you didn’t bring your lovely Justine today?”<br/><br/>“She dislike your tastes in both music and meals,” Thomas replied, stepping forwards towards the dais as the light centered on him. Unlike Ferro, he didn’t bow, instead leaping up the dais in a single bound before standing right in front of Bianca, staring her in the eyes.<br/><br/>“So, you’re going to give me some powers too? Or were you planning on one of my sisters being here?”<br/><br/>Bianca smiled, and was handed another bottle by one of her servants, this one marked with a white ribbon.<br/><br/>“A Raith is a Raith, and I would not dare sully the relationship between our fair courts,” she replied as she handed it to him.<br/><br/>“Can’t say I share that opinion,” Thomas replied, grabbing the flask and jumping down again, moving towards us as Bianca went on with the ceremony.<br/><br/>“Fair Leanansidhe, who has blessed us with her most gracious presence. For the court of Winter, I have another present.”<br/><br/>“Most gracious,” she replied. Stepping forwards, the green-haired faerie following her, though she didn’t seem happy about it.<br/><br/>As Leanansidhe stepped onto the dais, Bianca was handed another bottle, which she in turn handed to Lea.<br/><br/>“A gift for a gift, in accordance with the customs of my people,” Lea replied, handing Bianca a necklace with a small, but intricate-looking, charm. “I believe it might come in helpful before too long.”<br/><br/>The vampire put it on, something which was either wise, or incredibly foolish. On one hand, never trust a gift from one of the Sidhe. On the other, they can’t lie either, lies are anathema to their being.<br/><br/>Lea, in the meantime, removed the stopper from the vial, then gave it to her sweating attendant, who grasped it, moving it to her lips with shaking arms.<br/><br/>“It’s the dealer thing again,” Revel whispered, and I was reminded of the large stacks of printed out case-files I’d been handed. The dealer had been a rumor, probably a fake one, about a guy selling powers to people. From what I could remember, the deal he offered his clients had been a lot better than what Lea had gotten me, just a quick drink instead of an extended torture session.<br/><br/>Though now that I thought about it… Why was Lea interested enough to bring a flunky for this if she already knew how to give people parahuman abilities?<br/><br/>The drink touched greenhair’s lips, then shot down her throat as a massive PUSH smashed against my mind, like a tidal wave crashing against the mental barriers that Eb had helped me set up. I stood firm, holding back the tide as Revel’s body fell against mine. Holding her, I started a mental countdown while watching what was happening to the triggering faerie.<br/><br/>I wasn’t exactly sure of the details, I wasn’t even certain of how I knew, but something was happening to the creature Faeries had always had one foot in the Never-Never, and another in the physical world, but my godmother’s was being pulled fully into this one, and then yet further, her body becoming slightly translucent, though my power told me a different story. Something interdimensional, her body half in one world, half in the other. It had left her looking like a ghost, or a hologram, the green colour washing out of her hair.<br/><br/>“What… did it work?” Revel whispered, still holding onto my arm. She’d been out for an entire minute, longer than usual, though it was hard to tell apart the initial blast and the time it took to recover, which differed per cape.<br/><br/>“I think so,” I replied, scanning the onlooking crowd. Mister Ferro was observing intently, the flames in his eyes showing the extent of his interest. Sure, he could claim to be above the affairs of us mortals, but he couldn’t lie to himself.<br/><br/>Lea held out a hand, draggin her newly transformed servant off the stage with some hurry in her steps, while Bianca was just smiling, her eyes surveying the crowd. We really should have had more of a plan while coming here.<br/><br/>One of her servants, a lower-ranking vampire, whispered something in her ears, and she just nodded, standing up from her throne, flames sticking to her body as she glided over the stage. I could see a few of her people, probably just humans, given their unease, enter from the mansion, carrying curved metal bars they placed on the ground in a circle. Summoning? Containment? Both? Bianca seemed to be planning something with the mobile circle, so it couldn’t be anything good.<br/><br/>I looked at her, and she smiled right back at me, licking her lips. Was she going to summon some sort of demon for me, then set it on me as a *gift* of sorts?<br/><br/>“Mister Dresden, please approach so I may hand you your gift,” she said, her lips pressed together in the kind of smug self-satisfied facial expression you only ever saw on blood-sucking fire-wearing power-granting party-holding vampire ladies. It was a very specific.<br/><br/>I walked towards her, eyeing the circle as the metal clicked together, some of the vampires starting a chant.<br/><br/>“I had a really hard time thinking of a gift for you,” she said, “Until last night, when it just about fell into my lap.”<br/><br/>“I swear, if you’ve killed my apprentice…” I growled at her, staring her right in her hellish eyes, thankful that I didn’t see whatever twisted analogue to a soul she had.<br/><br/>“Don’t worry, she’s alive and… mostly well,” Bianca said, nodding towards the manor’s back door.<br/><br/>I saw Taylor, bound in chains, wearing a filthy cloak. She wasn’t wearing her costume,and from the look of it, she was still half-unconscious. A small but powerful figure, the Hamlet cosplayer I’d seen before, was shoving her forwards, holding her tightly by her hair.<br/><br/>Then, I saw the circle in front of us, the ground inside of it boiling. The waking world and the Never-Never merging together as eyes started appearing in the pavement.<br/><br/>“And as a present, I’ll return her to you,” Bianca smiled. “In fact, I’ll even remove that brain parasite of hers for you.”<br/><br/>Flesh boiled up from the middle of the makeshift circle, spectral claws appearing out of ectoplasm as my mind raced through my options. She was bringing Genoscythe’s ghost, and perhaps its undead warlock master, here. Could I counteract that somehow? Break open the circle and rescue Taylor in the ensuing chaos? I looked at her as she tried to mouth something to me through the dirty rag someone had used to gag her.<br/><br/>Bianca stepped forwards, looking at her captivated audience, then launched into another speech. “Brethren, today, I give you hope once more! No longer will our fine nation cower before the mortals, no longer will we live in fear of what should rightfully be our prey! Today, the vampire nation once again stands tall, today, we shall take them all down!”<br/><br/>Taylor and her captor approached the final circle, and I channeled energy into my staff—inscribed with runes for earth magic—while I prepared my power to shove my apprentice in a protective pocket-dimension.<br/><br/>Spectral energy suffused the air, ready to rip, tear and feast. I could hear Bianca whisper, “don’t want to break the truce now,” while I could see Revel ready her small crystal in the corner of my eyes. The Raithe vampire looked… worried?<br/><br/>Vampires cheered, Taylor tried to scream, Energy poured in from the Never-Never, gravity coursed through my fingers.<br/><br/>“Mavra, go ahead,” Bianca said as I looked into the corpse’s dead, vacant eyes. It looked back at me, dodging a direct gaze, and smiled.<br/><br/>Not the smile of an ancient undead monstrosity about to destroy everything you know and love. Not the smile of a blood-thirsty vampire about to feast on its next meal, or the smile of a Bond-base-owning supervillain announcing that he completed his plan thirty minutes ago after a long-winded monologue. No, this was the kind of smile usually seen just before you heard the words “hold my beer for a sec.”<br/><br/>Mavra released Taylor’s hair, the movements stiff as a mixed expression came over her face, Taylor’s gag and chains falling off as she did so. Mavra gave a quick nod in Revel’s direction, then crouched. Then, as she leapt into the circle, her dried out half-rotten lips shouted out a final word.<br/><br/>“Yolo!”</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0020"><h2>20. Final Feast, Part 3</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Mansions, Alec decided, all looked the same. Not literally, no, mansion owners made sure that their unique brand of opulence was explicitly theirs. There was just something to them, a stench that reminded him of home.<br/><br/>Long hallways, lined with red carpet so you wouldn’t see all the bloodstains, decorated with the best modern art to offer, fit for a museum collection where they could all perish in a single fire.<br/><br/>And then, a single corridor became three of them, none of them obviously leading down. Annoying, but not too much of an obstacle right now. He drew on the hunger, one of three monsters that made up the man known as Alec, and sniffed the air. Blood, sweat and alcohol wafted through the air, but there were hints in between. The paint of his costume, the sizzling fires outside, and one relatively familiar scent. What a dork…still using the same shampoo after all this time. Well, it did make the next step easier.<br/><br/>He stalked down the halls, evading the few guards hanging out indoors, and soon found the door to the cellar, a myriad of scents wafting from a gap between door and floor. He tried it, found it locked, then looked around.<br/><br/>No keys, but no vampires either. This would be easy, he’d played door-kicking simulator for hours on end. A quick kick, and the wood cracked. Then, he took a step back, and threw all of his measly weight against the wood with a jumping shoulder-bash, trusting his vampire reflexes to catch him as both boy and door crashed onto the stairs.<br/><br/>Time slowed. Or rather, his reflexes sped up, and as the ground beneath him disappeared with stone steps that had long been worn smooth, his hand caught the railing, and he almost flawlessly transitioned from fall to cartwheeling slide, and landing feet-first on the cold dark stone hidden a dozen meters down.<br/><br/>“Now that’s more like it,” he mumbled as he looked around Bianca’s torture dungeon. Flickering torchlight, bare stone, iron bars with a cloaked figure huddled behind them, and a collection of tools, chains and other bindings that looked like they were for something really kinky, torture, or knowing reds, both. He could make out a variety of bugs in the room, sitting on the floor and the walls, flying aimlessly.<br/><br/>More worrying was that something was watching them, hiding just out of sight, in the place that disappeared when you paid attention to it. Like something hidden on the inside of your eyelid, invisible but eminently there.<br/><br/>“Hey Dork, that you?” he asked, putting the strange watcher out of his mind.<br/><br/>The figure looked up, and he noticed that what he’d taken for the hood of a cloak was actually just a burlap sack. More striking, however, were the spiked manacles binding her arms and legs behind her back, wrought from what looked to be heavy vines of some sort.<br/><br/>“Hold on, lemme get you out,” he said, stepping forwards and checking cell’s door. Locked again, which was getting annoyingly repetitive. “Any idea where the key is?”<br/><br/>“Mumble mumble” Taylor replied, shifting over the ground, trying to roll towards him.<br/><br/>“Yeah yeah, I’ll get to it,” he said,crouching down and putting his hands through the bars. Her chains seemed competently made, with thorns cutting into the flesh of Taylor’s arms. Lara, his mother, had told him about these. They sealed the wearer’s magic, but… well, they just sealed the magic. Unless something had changed, Taylor should have been able to escape quite easily without that. Girl was far from incompetent.<br/><br/>He looked at his costume, grabbed a piece of his iron droid-bod, and tore it off, wielding it somewhat like a hammer as he pulled Taylor around, trying to get a piece of stone beneath the chains as she protested with muffled shouts.<br/><br/>Iron shiv in hand, Alec slammed it down on the chain, and shouted “I like my father!”<br/><br/>Iron met… whatever faerie material the chain was made out of, and chipped at it.<br/><br/>“I have lots of deep emotional bonds!” he continued, smashing down again, calling upon his hunger to grant him strength, the metal chipping further.<br/><br/>It wasn’t that he cared about Taylor all that much. Sure, the dork had been on his team, but it wasn’t like they’d been friends or anything. It was just… something you did. Something that, maybe, Taylor would have done for him.<br/><br/>“I hate lootboxes in Video Games!” he said, smashing again, the chains further flattening out. Almost there, then Skitter would be set free again, ready to ruin everyone’s day by putting cockroaches in perfectly drinkable cocktails of human blood.<br/><br/>“I give a shit about the old team!” he continued, the chains still as flat as they’d been before, almost cracking.<br/><br/>“Panacea is the hottest New Wave girl!” <em>‘Twangh!’ ‘Crack!’</em><br/><br/>“I’m attracted to you!” <em>‘Twong!’ ‘Crash!’</em><br/><br/>“I’m a well-adjusted person!” he shouted a final time, and for once, his iron shiv managed to do more than just damage, and bit straight through the chain. Using his enhanced strength, he pulled the chain away from Taylor’s limbs, until she took over the job once on of her hands was released.<br/><br/>Within seconds, a soft buzzing filled the room as Taylor removed the bag over her head, and then the gag in her mouth.<br/><br/>“The fuck Regent?” she asked as she rubbed her arms for a few seconds, blood pouring out of painfully deep cuts now that the sharp stuff had been removed.<br/><br/>“That’s what I get? Not even a ‘oh thank you give me your babies’? Not even a ‘how the fuck are you alive’?”<br/><br/>“How about a ‘Why the fuck didn’t you start with the hood?’” she replied, wobbling into two legs as bugs scouted the room, and presumably, the rest of the building. Why hadn’t she done that before?<br/><br/>“Honestly can’t say I thought about it,” he quipped back. “Anyway, try not to announce your presence too much, there’s a giant vampire party going on upstairs.”<br/><br/>“Is that why you’re dressed as… sexy R2D2?” she asked as she took a proper look at him. Was she… blushing? Or was he imagining it? Either way, dinner was not the point of this outing, though he was getting kind of hungry… No, not the dork, hooking up with her after rescuing her from an evil queen’s dungeon was the type of thing uncle Thomas would do.<br/><br/>“Long story, too much of a bother to explain,” he said.<br/><br/>“And why were you… saying that stuff?”<br/><br/>“Thorn Manacles, probably made in the Winter forges,” he explained, holding up the barbed chains. “You can destroy them by using something the creator can’t stand. Iron and lies in this case.”<br/><br/>“Lies?”<br/><br/>“I’m like, at least eighty percent certain that’s how faeries work.”<br/><br/>“I’m… Look, last thing I remember, I was fighting Skidmark and he-”<br/><br/>“Pfwhahahaha,” Alec laughed out, falling over—which took some effort with his new sense of balance—and rolling on the floor as his old teammate looked on in shame.<br/><br/>“He was a vampire! There were like fifty of them!”<br/><br/>“Still though… Skidmark? The guy so pathetic even Kaiser wouldn’t be properly racist against him?”<br/><br/>“Just… open up the cage or something? I think someone’s coming this way,” Taylor replied, once again showing her utter lack of humor. Had she even cracked a single joke in the time they’d known each other?<br/><br/>Alec looked around, scanning once more for both the keys, and that thing he couldn’t quite seem to see. Sadly, he found nothing but stuff even his father wasn’t kinky enough for. “Can’t your bugs find anything?”<br/><br/>Taylor replied by cocking her head to the side for a second, then putting a finger in front of her lips.<br/><br/>“What, black cat got your tongue?”<br/><br/>As a reply, the cockroaches on the floor in between them moved, spelling out a single sentence. Cloaked, on stairs.<br/><br/>“So anyway, is Myrddin as magical in bed as he is in battle?”<br/><br/>Anger flashed across her face, but she kept herself to whatever plan she’d made up. If he gave a shit, he would have been impressed.<br/><br/>“So, how far along are the two of you?” he continued, pointing a finger to the cockroach-based word stairs as he did so.<br/><br/>Taylor’s reaction was, at the same time, both difficult and easy to describe. There was disgust, loathing, self-hate, realization, and many more things, all merging into a single priceless package.<br/><br/>“Third base,” she whispered, straining against her own sense of decency. Alec smiled, and in one smooth motion, jumped up, grabbed his shiv in one hand, and swept the other along the stairs, three-quarters of the way down, applying the abilities of the other inhuman parasite that made its home in his brain.<br/><br/>At first, nothing. Then, contact, a twitching of leg muscles. But nothing showed, and no-one cried out in pain from falling down the stairs.<br/><br/>The bugs though, went crazy, swarming across the floor, the walls and the ceiling towards the bottom of the stairs, where absolutely nothing was to be seen. Or to be more specific, where absolutely nothing was being covered in a layer of swarming insects.<br/><br/>Alec threw the shiv anyway, the attack accompanied by a “<em>Fulmina</em>” from Taylor, which created chains of lightning bouncing between the bugs centered around their invisible target, showing a dark silhouette, now starting to get covered in cockroaches, lying on the ground.<br/><br/>The shiv, he noticed, hadn’t drawn blood, even though it’d sunk a few centimetres into the woman’s shoulder. Which was either really bad or really good. Sure, this was probably some sort of ancient unseen horror a thousand times more dangerous than a red vampire ever could be, but on the other hand, that just meant it could be a potential ally! You know, if they hadn’t just attacked it preemptively.<br/><br/>Trusting his less optimistic side, he leapt to the side of the room, grabbing a pair of… Scissors? Tongues? What where they even called? A pair of connected pinchy things that looked sturdy. He twisted, pulling the torture and/or sexy-time implement apart into two relatively straight pieces of steel. Like relatively dull swords, or sturdy police batons. Taylor had ducked towards the back of her cell, putting solid steel bars between her and an only semi-downed enemy that was now doing an undead Grue impression.<br/><br/>Their enemy, whatever it was, was wearing a black, now semi-scorched, outfit with a veil. Behind it, the skin was pallid and dried, the eyes deep, sunken and filled with cataracts. She, and he was only halfway sure this was a she, looked like an undead cocaine addict. She was slowly standing up as she wove her arms together, creating a black mist that seemed to utterly destroy any of Taylor’s bugs that touched it. Like if Grue and Night overcame their differences and had a dead baby together.<br/><br/>“Bad mistake boy, abusing your host like this,” she said, spreading the darkness around herself to protect from Taylor’s insect armada.<br/><br/>“I was just checking out the larder, you’re the one that snuck up on me,” he replied, striking out with his power, interrupting the precise moves of the woman’s hands as he ran at her.<br/><br/><em>“Fuego!”</em> Taylor yelled, cockroaches and flies spontaneously turning into fire, too weak to handle the heat, but they burned strong enough that, together with Alec’s interruptions, the woman stopped creating darkness and started patting herself out.<br/><br/>Alec leaped over the cloud of darkness, makeshift blades in front of him as he tried to smash them into the woman’s decrepit face-area.<br/><br/>She grasped his weapons out of the air, using his lack of leverage in mid-air to throw him across the room, his back smashing into a rack filled with sharp things that punctured his skin.<br/><br/>Could vampires even get tetanus?<br/><br/>“Be careful Alec, it’s a black!” Taylor shouted, most of her bugs skittering away from their opponent for some reason, onto walls and ceilings, spreading across the floor.<br/><br/>Going against his natural laziness, Alex stood up again, bolstered by his increased fortitude. Then, he took his impromptu fighting sticks into one hand, and used the other one to check his back for sharp stabby implements. “Don’t be a racist dork, the correct term is African-American-Undead!”<br/><br/>“I mean Black Court you idiot!” she replied, and he could see the cockroaches on the walls shifting, forming a variety of religious symbols. Crosses, pentacles, a star of David and whatever the Islamic moon-thing on the Turkish flag was called. Ying and Yang, and some other Asian symbols he didn’t recognize. Problem was, all of that shit required faith to work, and from what he knew of her...<br/><br/>“You happen to have a pin-up poster with you?” Alec asked, finding a long knife-like thing lodged in his back, then throwing it at the vampire.<br/><br/>“What? <em>Ventas Servitas!</em>” she replied, wind smashing the clouds of darkness away as Alec Got ready to attack once more, knowing that it couldn’t be this easy.<br/><br/>The vampire was looking around, observing the disgusting symbols of faith, but whatever it feared didn’t seem to be happening. He wielded his twin sticks, crossed them with a threatening glare just before reaching his enemy, and as she got ready to recoil, dropped one of them, threw his power at her left arm, then smashed the stick into her other hand, hopefully breaking the bones of her fingers.<br/><br/>“Damn you child! You will suffer for this!” it replied, smashing forwards in counterattack. Alec tried to shift, twist her legs from out under her, but she was too fast, and he was too close. A broken palm smashed into his jaw, the other elbow crushed his ribs, then threw him to the ground in a flash of pain.<br/><br/>“Alec!” Taylor yelled, still observing from a distance, like she’d done back at the bank. Very dramatic, almost like she cared about him. Sadly, wouldn’t help put his now broken body back together.<br/><br/>“Hush girl, your time will come,” the vampire said, dashing closer to him, just barely visible. But this time, he’d been expecting it. The moment she started her superpowered dash towards him, he kicked out with his legs, connecting with what nerves remained in those of the vampire. She stumbled, and Alec dodged out of the way as she fell over, feeling watched again. Just what was it, that looked at him from beyond if a thousand eyes or more?<br/><br/>“Haghwarppp” he stammered, a hand moving towards what remained of his jaw. Fuck, this bitch was dangerous. Hunger and adrenaline kept away most of the hurt for now, but he’d have to eat something eventually to recover his strength, and the only local produce was very much not for feasting.<br/><br/>This wasn’t going to work. Not against whoever their enemy was. They’d manage to properly hit her only once, taking her by surprise at the start of the fight, and apart from some cosmetic damage, the vampire witch didn’t look worse for wear. And there was the other thing, the disgusting entity watching him, so close he could almost touch it.<br/><br/>He drew on his hunger, his newfound predatory instincts, and then reached for his power again. Would this even work on something that was dead? He gave it a solid maybe.<br/><br/>He quested, not for arms or legs, but some deeper part of the nervous system. His grandfather, he’d been told, was known to be able to kill with a single kiss. The connection he made was—in it’s own way—far more intimate than that. A direct link between neural systems, two bodies controlled as if they were one.<br/><br/>He felt the nerves, preserved and dried, still firing electrical impulses, though it was magic controlling them rather than the brain. Additionally, the dessicated remains of the muscles were largely decorative, with most of the strength coming from her innate magical nature. But there was something else…<br/><br/>This woman had been toying with them, even more than he’d thought. Her attention wasn’t even on their fight, but on something beyond, something gnawing at the edges of their consciousness. More dangerous to her than to them, but… there was a flavor to it...<br/><br/><em>“Fulminare!”</em> Taylor shouted again, bugs zapping with electrical energy that was then transferred to her target, lighting up the muscles inside. It was probably not as useful as Taylor hoped it would be. The Black Court vampire didn’t really use her body for much of what she did, and deep-frying the nerves would do very little actual damage. It did, however, neatly outline the target for him.<br/><br/>“Kwhakhpable” he shouted, blood spurting out of his mouth as the vampire stood up again, her outfit torn from her slide across the floor. Would she be stupid enough to use that speed of hers again? Probably too much to hope for.<br/><br/>Alec looked around frantically, looking at the failed symbols on the wall, the different torture implements now scattered around the room, the floor where spiders were circling around…<br/><br/>He smiled, then winced from the pain, then smiled again. It wouldn’t be enough though, not against whatever they were fighting, unless… He turned to Taylor, pointed at his forehead, then placed the bugs between himself and the raving vampire.<br/><br/>“You, are a very annoying little child,” she proclaimed, walking towards him with death in her eyes. For a moment, she started to fade behind some sort of illusion magic, but the multitude of bugs in the room clearly showed her position.<br/><br/>“Pfwhergl,” he replied, throwing his remaining fighting stick at the woman. She caught it in mid-air, then stepped forward, dropping all pretense of stealth as she twisted it in her fingers, licking her half-rotten lips. Did vampires eat vampires? Did she want his hot White bod?<br/><br/><em>“Aparturum,”</em> Taylor whispered, tearing a thousand tiny holes between worlds, holes through which eyes watched him, and from which fleshy tentacles appeared, ready to feast on power and essence. He felt it inside of him, clawing at the demons in his mind, but they obviously targeted their enemy first and foremost, the least physical being the best meal.<br/><br/>She didn’t go easily though, her mouth sputtering ancient words, hands held in something that resembled a dance as her black mist touched Taylor’s portals, shredding the thing on the other side as she closed the tear between realms, fighting off whatever ghost thing had rampaged through the city. It stood no chance, with the Arcane might of an Ancient Black Court Vampire brought against it’s invading tendrils.<br/><br/>Black bolts of energy collided with fleshy tendrils, which seemed impervious to the first strike, then folded under the second. Flesh blackening and spraying blood, which turned into a mist of ectoplasm.<br/><br/>The fight allowed him time to nurse his wounds. The broken ribs, his shattered jaw… this was going to hurt once the adrenalin ran out, even to his mind.<br/><br/>Well, nothing to do about that but figure out a way to charm Panacea into helping out.<br/><br/>The vampire continued her chanting, lashing out with a dozen spells at once, completely ignoring the teenage parahuman threat as she contained the contagion, which suited him just fine. It gave him the time he needed to watch, to wait, to aim, and to kick out.<br/><br/>The vampire stumbled as she was about to achieve victory, mummified muscle launching her backwards into a silken semi-circle that was quickly filled completed, a cord brought in by a dozen cockroaches, then the whole thing strengthened with another layer as Taylor send bugs into the weakened portals, closing them off again with a few quick words as the now tired vampire stood silently, observing the situation.<br/><br/>“Glawhrble,” Regent said, ignoring the pain as he quested out with his powers.<br/><br/>“My power’s working properly again,” Taylor said, standing at the front of her cage. “She must’ve chased it off.”<br/><br/>The vampire chuckled, then looked at her. “Do you think our battle went unnoticed, little cockroach? There are a dozen guards coming in as back-up right now.”<br/><br/>“We’ll figure something out,” Taylor said, as Regent reminded himself of who they’d told so far. He’d already figured something out, and his target was perfectly contained.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0021"><h2>21. Final Feast, Part 4</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>To say that chaos broke out would have been an understatement. As Mavra leapt into the circle I shifted my aim, shifting Bianca into an interdimensional pocket with one hand as the other slammed my can into the ground, shifting the earth beneath Bianca’s dais. Revel took to the sky, the little gem in her bracelet firing out tiny orbs at the vampires down below as Thomas ran through the party, racing towards the mansion.<br/><br/>The vampires, simultaneously, went insane, screeching and shedding their fake skins, black slimy bodies laid bare, long claws allowing them to both climb and gut their prey with ease. A terrifying sight, but I didn’t really have the time to be terrified here. One of the disgusting creatures leapt for me, claws out.<br/><br/>I took my blade out of its cane-sheath. I wasn’t necessarily good with it, but it was easy enough to hit a target leaping at you if you just held it out at an angle, so that’s what I did. It hit, spearing the thing through the torso, but that wasn’t quite enough to take it down.<br/><br/>Of course, holding it in place, I simply opened a portal to a relatively hot dimension in front of it, torching the thing as I tried to figure out the next step.<br/><br/><em>“Fulminare”</em> Taylor shouted, and I looked behind me to see her lightning bolt fly towards a second attacker. I tried to follow up, but found the scorched vampire still attached to my blade, so instead I dropped it, smashing the vampire that Tayor had just zapped with my fist, and activating my ring, tearing it apart with kinetic energy that send it flying.<br/><br/>“You’re late,” Taylor said as she caught up to me, breathing heavily. She looked horrible, with bruises covered by filth, but she was talking and using magic, and now that I looked at her… Yes, she was, indeed, also covered in cockroaches, flies, wasps and spiders, with more coming in from the surrounding area.<br/><br/>“Sorry, got stuck at a party,” I replied as I spotted a familiar duo of vampires moving our way. Kyle and Kelly Hamilton.<br/><br/>“Love the costume, better than Alec’s,” she replied, leaning on my arm.<br/><br/>“Alec?” I asked, keeping an eye out for the two vampires. Kyle was still wearing his tennis whites, while Kelly, or at least someone I presumed to be Kelly, was naked as the day she was turned, bloodstains on her teeth. She’d been feeding tonight.<br/><br/>“Long story, old teammate,” Taylor answered. “You have a spare knife?”<br/><br/>“Try the sword,” I replied, following up with a <em>“Gravitus”</em> towards the two vampires as Taylor ducked down, taking the time to pull the blade free as I heard the buzzing of her swarm become louder and louder.<br/><br/>“Now you’ve done it Harry, gone and broken the truce,” Kyle said, straining against his increased weight. “This should be fun.”<br/><br/>“The truce was broken when you allied with that warlock,” I bluffed. “Whose only claim to power is through breaking that truce.”<br/><br/>“Nice idea, too bad you won’t be alive for long enough to try and argue it,” Kyle replied. “You’re surrounded, and we have our allies here.”<br/><br/>“Allies that aren’t quite fighting on your side, aren’t they?” I replied, readying another spell as a small orb of light drilled its way through Kyle’s face from above.<br/><br/>I looked up, and saw Revel, a cavalcade of lights buzzing around her, shielding her from attacks by leaping vampires.<br/><br/>“We should get ready to leave,” I whispered, watching Kelly, who seemed to be preoccupied with her dying brother.<br/><br/>“Alec’s still in the mansion, wounded. Can’t leave without him.”<br/><br/>“So that’s where the Raith ran off to,” I replied. “You good to run?”<br/><br/>“I’ll be fine,” she replied, standing straighter as she did so. I gave Kelly another look, still crying. “Let’s go.”<br/><br/>I started running, pulling Taylor along. She was quick, and much like me, a trained runner, but she wasn’t as tall as I was, and definitely still hurt from her imprisonment.<br/><br/>“Be careful, they’ve got Skidmark,” Taylor said through heavy breathing as I pulled her along towards the mansion.<br/><br/>“Revel can handle that,” I reassured her, almost tripping as the ground seemed to move beneath us.<br/><br/>“Did you feel…” I stammered as I felt the earth move beneath me, with something tugging at the gravity spell I’d left behind.<br/><br/>“What the…” Taylor shouted as the ground shifted beneath us, the mansion we were running towards quickly becoming down, accelerating our mad dash towards it. Around us, I saw the vampires digging their claws into the earth, sticking to the wall as the rest of us—including dozens of their innocent victims—fell down towards the mansion.<br/><br/>Who the hell was manipulating the gravity? Did they get to Topsy too? Hell’s bells, I knew the Folk had been failing against Marcone, but had it been bad enough for the guy to be taken by Bianca’s court? No, not the time to think about this. I held out my staff, and tried to focus on what I’d felt when Topsy’s power had interrupted my spell. Could I overpower it, at least temporarily? Worth a shot, given the stakes. Taylor had grabbed hold of a tree-stump from what I could see, but not all of these kids were that lucky. I focussed my mind, sending energy into my staff.<em> “Gravitus!”</em> I shouted, temporarily shifting the gravitic effect, slowing everyone’s falls as I impacted against one of the windows of the mansion, glass shattering around me as I landed on the wall, alive but bruised.<br/><br/>I’d survived the fall, and gotten into the mansion, though not the way I’d hoped. Problem was, with one quick move, the Reds had taken the high ground. It wasn’t quite over, but I’d have to be careful. Looking up, I saw one of them climb its way towards where Taylor had grasped a tree, hunger in its eyes, and then shortly after, once Taylor had noticed its attention, bees in its eyes.<br/><br/>Good girl, I thought as the vampire let go of the earth in order to claw as its eyes. It dropped, tumbling towards the mansion until Revel caught him with a blast from her crystal. It looked weaker than the previous one, was she running out of energy? Either way, this was going… a bit better than I’d expected..<br/><br/>Which I really should not have thought. Because as I did so, I saw the portable circle—within which Mavra had been fighting off Genoscythe’s ghost—fall over, the clicked-together metal segments falling apart, unleashing the wild, rampaging creature on the sideways mansion.<br/><br/>“Hell’s Bells…” I whispered, as I saw Revel react by flying towards Taylor. We had to get out of here, and fast.<br/><br/>But first, I’d have to find our vampire friends, weird as that might have sounded. I wasn’t quite sure what was happening, but apparently the kid had snuck off and rescued Taylor, so I could as well do the same thing in return.<br/><br/>I ran through the sideways mansion, hoping that Revel would tackle the problems back in the courtyard. Even with the shifted gravity, she’d be able to fly the two of them out of there.<br/><br/>It was strange, running over the walls of the mansion, jumping in sweet parkour moves as I walked past statues, while debris was falling through the windows from above. I came across a Vampire, seemingly still disoriented, and blasted him with flames from a pocket dimension, running past as it tried to shield itself from the flames.<br/><br/>Coming to a split, I went down, which was just about the weirdest thing I’d thought today, diving deeper into the mansion as I used my power to blow air up from below me, buffeting my fall as I reached the new ground, one room deeper into the building.<br/><br/>The entire thing was chaos, furniture crashed into the wall with water spilling out of a ruined aquarium. The wall that was now the roof had paintings hanging from it by long cords, hanging them in mid-air, and from the looks of it…<br/><br/>The paintings were shifting again, pointing towards the ceiling, which was now the new floor as the hidden Shaker applied his power once again. I jumped, landing properly while furniture rolled through the room, the mansion itself creaking, kicking up dust. Why didn’t it just fall into the sky entirely? The dirt beneath the mansion following it into the heavens? Some sort of Manton effect?<br/><br/>Flames roared, and I just barely dodged out of the way as a stream of fire blasted past me, followed by a steady stream of rocks.<br/><br/><em>“Rifflettum”</em> I shouted, hating myself for not bringing the shield bracelet in my wish to keep the costume in theme. Rocks smashed against my shield, which just barely held as I looked at my opponent.<br/><br/>Bianca, having shed half her flesh-suit, had attached herself to the roof, formerly known as floor. Her dress still aflame, she’d finally gotten out of my dimensional prison. Interference from other powers?<br/><br/>“Do you like my Topsy?” she asked, her tongue licking bloody lips. Revel? Taylor?<br/><br/>“Well, it’s certainly improved the interior decorating,” I replied, steadying myself.<br/><br/>“Did you really think a brute like you would’ve been able to win through subterfuge, Dresden?”<br/><br/>“A bit,” I replied, opening up a dimensional hole to my side, which sucked in air, and hopefully her projectiles.<br/><br/><em>“Forzare!”</em> I then shouted, launching a blast of force at her, one she dodged by letting go with her claws, then landing right-side-up on the ceiling. Dust fell down from where she’d hooked her claws in, moving into the sinkhole of air I’d created.<br/><br/>“You come and attack me in my own home, and you think you can stand a chance? I’m not the girl you could bully around Dresden, I’ve grown.”<br/><br/>“Then maybe you should’ve gone on a diet, go easy on the murder, y’know?” I replied. She’d dodged, but I had her where I wanted her. I wouldn’t say I had the right spell for this situation, but I could make do.<br/><br/>She moved her hands through her dress, placing liquid fire in them, which she launched with an incantation I didn’t recognize.<br/><br/>Sadly for her, magical fire was still fire, and I’d created a hole in reality that sucked it straight into an alternate dimension. An easy mistake most young practitioners made.<br/><br/><em>“Geodas!”</em> I countered, smashing my staff into what used to be the ceiling, cracks appearing throughout the floor, spreading into the walls.<br/><br/>“What are you doing?!” Bianca asked readying her claws with more fire.<br/><br/>“Manton effect,” I said with a smile as the cracks widened, the individual chunks shifting downwards. I turned to my power, reverting the hole, aiming the ensuing airflow downwards, to below Bianca’s feet.<br/><br/>The intake of air made her dress burn like wildfire, the flames increasing in intensity as the floor started cracking apart, falling downwards, first into the floor beneath/above us, then creating further structural damage, the strain of reverse gravity becoming too much..<br/><br/>As the building collapsed downwards around us, a blazing Bianca leaped towards me. In return, I struck out with my cane, hitting her in the ribs as she flew into me, flaming claws tearing through my clothes and into my flesh as we fell into the sky together. The top half of the mansion crashing into the sky with us.<br/><br/>I tried, and failed, to push her off me. She liked to be civilized, to pretend at culture, but in an all-out direct melee? She had the better of me and she knew it.<br/><br/><em>“Forzare!” </em>I shouted with the last of my last breath, pushing her away as her claws took parts of my flesh with them. With only a few feet between us, we fell into the sky, stars outlining the blazing sun of her flaming dress as the earth disappeared above us.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0022"><h2>22. Final Feast, Part 5</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“What the hell, they’ve got Topsy too?” the wounded girl asked as Revel clasped her arms around the poor thing.<br/>
<br/>
“Presumably,” she replied, moving the two of them away from what was now a vertical garden, out of the reach of fallen debris and vampires. “Can you charge me up? I’m almost out.”<br/>
<br/>
“Same here,” Skitter, no, scratch that, Taylor, whispered as she reoriented her swarm around the two of them, flies, wasps and bees buzzing around them. A handful of dragonflies flew in front of her face. “Where’s the…”<br/>
<br/>
“Here,” Revel replied, holding up the little stone Eb had made for her. She wasn’t quite sure about the specifics, but it was capable of storing energy just like her lantern was, with the added bonus that it also worked on slightly more metaphorical energies<br/>
<br/>
Taylor whispered something in Latin, and she saw a few sparks of energy fly between the bugs, into her stone. Not much, but it would do.<br/>
<br/>
“What’s the plan?” Taylor asked.<br/>
<br/>
Revel tried to asses the situation. Dresden had disappeared into the building to help Taylor’s friend, the sexy vampire had gone who knew where.<br/>
<br/>
The guests, the ones they’d met during their talks at the party, had seemingly disappeared, each using their own methods to stay out of the battle.<br/>
<br/>
That left the monster, and the seemingly mastered vampire that had escorted Taylor. The thing was no longer contained, and an endless cavalcade of flesh seemed to stream out of the tumbling circle.<br/>
<br/>
Flesh met black mist, resulting in a red mist that filled the side of the battlefield, drops of blood shooting into the sky where they fell on Skidmark’s glowing paths. Hadn’t she taken him out?<br/>
<br/>
“Skidmark, Topsy, can you find them?” she asked.<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll try,” Taylor said, “What else?”<br/>
<br/>
“Stay alive,” Revel whispered, “I didn’t come here without a plan, help is on its way.”<br/>
<br/>
“Seems like a plan so far,” Taylor whispered.<br/>
<br/>
“Just take a good look at my buttons,” Revel whispered, bundling the left-over energy in her gemstone together.<br/>
<br/>
“Found them, I think,” Taylor said “In the mansion, they’re yelling about something, and I think Skidmark’s bleeding. And… there’s a lot of wounded people, human I think, on the side of the building.”<br/>
<br/>
Revel nodded, then turned towards the mansion, flying the both of them past the clouds of red and black mist, to where she could get a proper view.<br/>
<br/>
Bodies littered the side of the mansion, some of them still moving ever so slightly, while others had quieted down.<br/>
<br/>
“Damnit…” Revel whispered. This… this hadn’t been part of the plan. It wasn’t what she’d intended. Nonetheless… she view closer, pushing Taylor’s head away from the carnage against her struggles and protests.<br/>
<br/>
She hovered above a teenager, a boy, a child really. A bit pudgy and pasty, probably didn’t have the greatest time at school and found a sub-culture he liked, then got sucked into magical drugs and a party where he was literally used as cattle.<br/>
<br/>
This one probably hadn’t died from the impact, and his body had gone limp enough that none of the limbs were overly twisted. His neck though, was utterly torn apart, the skin around it licked dry of blood.<br/>
<br/>
“There are thousands of these fuckers…” Revel whispered, mostly to herself. “Maybe millions…”<br/>
<br/>
A voice whispered something in her ear, words she’d been waiting for. It was time for the following phase of the plan.<br/>
<br/>
“Skitter, do you still have a lock on Topsy and Skidmark?” she asked with newfound resolve.<br/>
<br/>
The girl nodded.<br/>
<br/>
“Give me a line,” Revel said. “To Topsy.”<br/>
<br/>
Some wasps broke off from the swarm, one floating between them and the mansion, the other right behind it, in a long perfectly straight line.<br/>
<br/>
“Thanks,” Revel whispered as she fired her final orb of energy, flying straight over the line of wasps, through several walls and ceilings, into soft vampire-flesh.<br/>
<br/>
Again, the world twisted ninety degrees beneath them. The angle, sadly was off, and the bodies started falling into the sky.<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/>
<br/>
<br/>
“Topsy! Set me down right now!” Bianca screamed, waving around her bloody arms, as if trying to get purchase on the air.<br/>
<br/>
Nothing happened, and I could see Bianca’s well-composed face twist and snarl as she kept shouting out her minion’s name.<br/>
<br/>
“You see, that’s the problem with you, with all you monsters. You put on a mask and you play at being human, but you don’t get it, not really.”<br/>
<br/>
“I’ll have you gutted for this Dresden!” Bianca shouted, real teeth visible behind once-human lips. “Your council will gladly deliver me your severed head for this!”<br/>
<br/>
“See, that’s what I mean,” I replied. “You just don’t get how loyalty works. You turn people into addicts and think that will make them loyal to you, when all they really care about is their next hit.”<br/>
<br/>
“I command hundreds!” she replied, the outline of light behind her blazing like a star. Basic physics, heating air.<br/>
<br/>
“Hundreds of what? Of vampires waiting for the moment they can kill you and take your place? Of mercenaries that run the moment their paycheck doesn’t weigh up against the risk? Of broken people willing to backstab you the moment someone offers them a better hit? Do you think it’s a coincidence that all you’ve acquired so far is third-rate idiots that lost their support-system months ago?”<br/>
<br/>
“It matters not,” Bianca replied. “You have no idea about what kind of forces I have behind you, you and all your naive friends!”<br/>
<br/>
The heat of her dress, larger behind her, had slowly given her some velocity, slowly pushing her towards me as she licked the blood off of her claws. I didn’t look down at myself, didn’t dare see the state I was in.<br/>
<br/>
“They’re not just my friends, they’re heroes, good people,” I whispered, taking a quick look up. The mansion was gone,everything up to the floorboards sucked into the sky. Behind that were the dungeons, the larder, the places where they’d stowed away the corpses of their victims.<br/>
<br/>
There was a portal to the Never-Never down there. One currently in use by Kravos’s ghost, wielding the strength of Genoscythe and whatever else he’d eaten.<br/>
<br/>
Bianca lashed out with a claw I managed to block with my earth-staff, pushing myself further away from her. That gave me time, time I could use to look back down.(or was it up?)<br/>
<br/>
I tried to remember what Murphy had taught me on the range. About steady arms, and how to adjust your aim when shooting up or down, which never had seemed quite this complicated when she’d explained it.<br/>
<br/>
“See Bianca, the thing is, you’re not the only one that can bring back the ghosts of the dead to wreak vengeance on your enemies!” I shouted, collecting as much energy as I could into a single point, centered on the end of my fingers, held out in the shape of a gun. “It’s just that, in my case, we call it justice.”<br/>
<br/>
Energy shot out of my fingers, firing away before I could speak a single word alongside my spell, and a the thin beam lasered up (down?) into the metal ring, the one that Kravos was using to partially enter this world.<br/>
<br/>
The ring broke open from the impact, the monstrous fleshy form growing in size ten-fold, then a hundred-fold, floating in mid-air as its attention was focussed on Mavra, who had so far been fighting off the half-maddened thing. Was that still Kravos in there?<br/>
<br/>
After a few seconds, the flesh-thing was fully through, a fall-floating thing rivaling the bulb of flesh we’d gotten rid off just a few months ago in size. The portal, now broken open, didn’t stop at just Kravos’s ghost though and though not nearly as impressive, I saw flits of energy come out. Ghosts, the remnants of the dead, echoes of the living back to take care of their unfinished business.<br/>
<br/>
And in this place, at this time, with these people? I knew exactly what that unfinished business that was, and from the looks of it, so did Bianca.<br/>
<br/>
Her face looked grim for a second, no longer smiling as what seemed to be a tidal wave of the dead came in from above. Then, she smiled.<br/>
<br/>
“Well, at least I can take you with me, in return for what you did to Rachel,” she spoke, and moved her hands into the flames of her dress, turning them ever brighter.<br/>
<br/>
<em>“Riflettum!”</em> I shouted as Bianca turned into a blazing sun, lighting up the Chicago night.<br/>
<br/>
The shield, weak as I was right now, was not enough, and I could feel the heat radiating through it, and smelled that distinct spell that was oh so slightly too similar to fried pork.<br/>
<br/>
I tried to shift, to draw a sigil in the air and apply my power, but we were still falling, and I could feel the heat cooking my fingers, my shield starting to fade as the radiating light forced my eyes closed<br/>
<br/>
Something brushed past my legs, a soft, cool nothing moving up my arms, into my shield, and the heat started to recede.<br/>
<br/>
One touch became many, and I felt my shield grow beyond my control. Opening my eyes, it had enveloped Bianca all around her, a contained ball of fire slowly cooling as the spirits of the dead allowed her to kill herself.<br/>
<br/>
The flames receded, and the shield disappeared, filling the night-sky with ash as my fall upwards slowly came to a halt. Bianca was gone, consumed by another pale imitation, this time mimicking a death curse.<br/>
<br/>
I looked down (up?) in relief, and spotted the mansion, held in place in mid-air. It, debris and bodies, held in place by an ominous green glow, created by a faceless spectre standing in the sky besides it.<br/>
<br/>
He was here, and Reds weren’t quite Endbringers. The fight was won, I could rest.<br/>
<br/>
***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/>
<br/>
<em>Several minutes earlier</em><br/>
<br/>
The perspective shifted as the camera moved past black and red mist, then focussed in on a corpse. Just one of many, a child, guilty of nothing but being in the wrong place at the wrong time.<br/>
<br/>
“Why was I not told?” the woman in the suit asked, as the men in uniform looked on.<br/>
<br/>
“Corruption” Eidolon replied. “Infiltration of the PRT, presumably. You heard her speech, they do not fear our capes.”<br/>
<br/>
“And how many of these people, these… vampires, were there again?”<br/>
<br/>
“Easily hundreds of thousands,” Eidolon replied “I’ve done some analysis with a Thinker power, they have a presence in nearly every major city, which is nothing compared to the amount of influence they have further to the south. It wouldn’t be inaccurate that any time you read the words Cartel Leader, that actually means Red Court Vampire.”<br/>
<br/>
“And you only bring this to me now because?”<br/>
<br/>
“The energies involved with these creatures, their magic, interferes with normal recording technology. This direct feed is only possible because one of our Tinkers figured out a way shield against this effect. The moment Revel knew what she had was roughly the moment I called for this meeting,” Eidolon explained, watching the onlooking generals. He’d checked the woman in-depth, but there was no telling how far up the corruption went in the army. How many of them had helped in keeping the existence of magic hidden?<br/>
<br/>
“It is good that you brought all of this directly to me,” she said. “If these things are only half as good at subterfuge as I suspect they are, they would’ve intercepted the message immediately, or manipulated us into inaction.”<br/>
<br/>
Eidolon nodded, smiling behind his mask. The voice wasn’t happy with this, which meant it had been a good idea. “So you’ll sign the order?”<br/>
<br/>
“I will,” the woman said, to the protest of a few of the Generals. Pen in hand, she grabbed the piece of paper he’d prepared beforehand, and signed her name. “Then by the powers vested in me as president of the United States of America, I hereby authorize lethal force against all members, both domestic and otherwise, of this self proclaimed ‘Red Court’, by police, Protectorate, and the entirety of the armed forces.”<br/>
<br/>
“Thank you,” Eidolon said, looking around the room. None of these men would assault their leader, that much his danger-sense told him. He grabbed a small radio from his belt, and activated it, “Mission successful,” he whispered to Revel as he threw away his current powerset, trusting his agent to give him what he needed.<br/>
<br/>
“Now if you don’t mind Sir, I will go and bail out my people,” he said, anticipating the fighting as his powers started coming in.<br/>
<br/>
“Give them hell,” was the last thing he heard before a Mover power transported him to the Chicago skyline. A second power created a gravitic cushion, catching any debris falling up from above. The third showed him the biggest threat around. A pulsating mass of ghostly flesh that seemed to have destroyed its first opponent, and was questing for more.<br/>
<br/>
<em>A Worthy Opponent.</em><br/>
<br/>
“Are you sure?” The voice in the back of his head asked. “It was designed to defeat you and yours. Allow me to assist, and we shall surely achieve glorious victory”<br/>
<br/>
He pondered the words as teleportation and enemy-sense receded, turning into tools for battle. He’d been getting weaker, and the strange ghost-thing would be a difficult opponent, but he reveled in that, in that thrill that had so long been denied to him. No, he would not accept the offer today<br/>
<br/>
He held out an arm, forging an impossibly large blade from blackened flames, and smiled. Today, he had gained not only this fight, but a thousand more to come. The Red Court would not go quietly, and though he hated to admit it, that suited him just fine.<br/>
<br/>
“Are you sure you do not need my help, dear David?” the voice asked him as he rocketed downwards through the sky.<br/>
<br/>
“I know that you’re at a moments call if I need you,” he replied. She was always close, always waiting, offering glimpses of strength, hoping to corrupt him. Still, she had proven herself a useful tool over the years, and there was no need to throw away dear Lasciel just yet. This would all be over very soon.</p>
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<a name="section0023"><h2>23. Epilogue</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The lamp on my nightstand, one of those new ones with the leds, started flickering for a second as the hospital room’s door opened and familiar face nearly bumped into the top of the doorpost. I placed my book on the nightstand and sat upright. He honestly looked far worse off than me, with a bandage around his entire torso and a down look on his face.<br/><br/>“She really tore into you didn’t she?”<br/><br/>“Nothing I didn’t deserve,” Harry replied. “Unless you’re talking about Bianca, in which case, yeah.”<br/><br/>“Did she have anything interesting to say?”<br/><br/>Harry groaned, and took a place on the chair next to my bed. “Only that she wanted my gun and my badge. Politics, she says.”<br/><br/>“So you’re fired?”<br/><br/>“I’m fired.”<br/><br/>We sat there for a few minutes. Myrddin, fired. No longer a hero… I knew how much he loved the job, depended on it really. The White council didn’t exactly pay its people, and from what Susan had told me, money had apparently been tight before he’d gotten the superhero gig.<br/><br/>“What’s the excuse?” I asked.<br/><br/>“Failure to inform my superiors of the existence of not one but several global secret societies.” he replied. I got ready to raise my voice in protest when he continued. “As well as actively taking part in one of those societies, and infiltrating the Protectorate on its behalf.”<br/><br/>“Okay, yeah, they got you there…” I admitted. “So… did they at least tell you what happened?”<br/><br/>“It’s complicated, and no-one will give me the specifics, but it boils down to the fact that Eidolon skipped every layer of insulation and went straight to the president and told her everything, with a live feed of video evidence. Here, just look,” he said as he grabbed the remote, flicking on to a random channel. I’d have accused him of using magic to make sure it switched on to a dramatically appropriate image, but I knew that it would’ve interfered, and that every channel would have shown practically the same thing.<br/><br/>It was a helicopter image, showing the smoking remains of an utterly destroyed building, blown apart by a several different parahuman powers, as well as what looked like some sort of rocketry. A few corpses of what had probably once been Red Court Vampires could be seen, as well as a larger creature I couldn’t quite place that was slowly dripping down into ectoplasm. The younger news anchor sounded like she couldn’t quite believe what she was telling people, while the older one had quickly adapted his old McCarthy-ist repertoire, talking about the danger that the *Reds* posed as if the cold war were still raging.<br/><br/>“The hitherto hidden threat is quickly being neutralized by our brave American troops, supported by our mighty heroes, showing once again the greatness of our nation, and its willingness to stand up for those who cannot fend for themselves,” the man explained.<br/><br/>“So they’ve done it, they’ve actually declared war?” I asked.<br/><br/>“Theoretically, only congress has the ability to declare war,” Harry explained. “But in practice, the president can make quite a few moves before she’s actually called to heel, and no-one wants to be seen as opposing the fight against literal blood-sucking vampires.”<br/><br/>“And in the meantime, her polling numbers are probably shooting up,” I remarked.<br/><br/>“Probably,” Harry agreed with me. There was no way to know where this would go. Too many unknowns, but one thing was clear. The masquerade was over, finito, gone, and all the secret organisations and hidden cabals with a vested interested in keeping it there had been swiftly bypassed by a tinkertech camera and the second-mightiest man on earth.<br/><br/>“I’m guessing that, with you kicked out, I’ll have to join the Wards now?”<br/><br/>“Maybe, maybe not. Things are messy and chaotic right now, and I don’t think Revel wants to push you to join during wartime. Beyond that… the council will probably start official relations with several governments now, and you are officially my apprentice. That will hopefully still mean something when the initial chaos dies down. Hell, we might have Wardens yelling at Capes over issues of jurisdiction in the next season of Beverly Hill Heroes.”<br/><br/>“Good,” I replied, letting out a sigh as I ignored the joke at the end. “And Kravos?”<br/><br/>“Eidolon said he was dealt with,” Harry said. “Permanently.”<br/><br/>“That’s what we thought last time, and dying in the birdcage didn’t stop him.”<br/><br/>“I’m… not entirely sure I want to know what he meant by it, but he was very convincing.”<br/><br/>“What was his entire thing about anyway? Why was he working together with the Vampires?”<br/><br/>“The woman you and the Raith boy fought, she’s an ancient Black Court Vampire by the name of Mavra, one of Vlad Tepes’s spawn, according to my source. She lost most of her brood a while back, and seems to have been studying parahuman abilities since that point, leaking data to various interested parties that could then play Guinea Pig for her, allowing her to harvest the results with little danger to herself. When she had an unexpected success with Kravos, she probably went to Bianca, knowing that Kravos’s ghost had the same targets she had. Hell’s bells, Bianca and her pets were probably one of her projects.”<br/><br/>“So the reason my power was so weak, down in the basement, that was Mavra?”<br/><br/>“Possibly, though I’m not entirely sure. Most likely it was her modifying Kravos’s effect somehow. He’s eaten two powers already, so that probably wasn’t beyond him, given that his spiritual aspect in the never-never was combined with the interdimensional entities somehow. He didn’t seem to like it all that much, given the berserk behaviour he exhibited.”<br/><br/>“Wait, two?” I asked. There’d been more there than just Genoscythe?<br/><br/>“Victoria Dallon,” he said. “Apparently, she got attacked in a dream and lost her oomph. She disappeared, and her sister’s completely freaking out about it.”<br/><br/>“So they’re gone? Completely removed? Absolute done with?” I asked. Even if the means had been absolutely horrible, and Victoria sure as hell hadn’t deserved it… to actually remove powers from someone, that wasn’t an easy task.<br/><br/>“Maybe,” Harry replied. “Though with her gone off the grid, we can’t exactly check to make sure.”<br/><br/>I shivered, thinking about that for a while. I hadn’t had my abilities for too long, but I couldn’t imagine living without them, or without my magic for that matter. To lose something like that… It’d been a close call, too close. I’d been careless, trusting skills that weren’t as well-developed as I’d thought.<br/><br/>“And Mavra? Is she still around?”<br/><br/>“With my luck? Yes. Eidolon didn’t take her out, so she probably slipped away from the battle somewhere in the chaos.”<br/><br/>The scene on the TV had moved on. The focus shifted to other aspects of the supernatural, such as wizards, ghosts and faeries, with dozens of old, blurry pictures, as well as one or two newer ones, made with Tecton’s shielding techniques. There were a few sentences about the courts and the never-never, though it seemed more like speculation than actual understanding of the issues, with most of the information taken from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. It was rather preposterous, which reminded me of something.<br/><br/>“How’s Regent doing? Besides the whole apparently being a vampire now?”<br/><br/>“The Raith boy managed to escape custody, mostly by disappearing from his medical bed before anyone could link him to his costumed identity,” Harry said. “For better or for worse, his family can probably get him medical treatment. They're… quite well-connected.”<br/><br/>“One more worry off my head, though I wish he’d stayed around to chat… Can’t believe I actually miss that idiot.”<br/><br/>“Something tells me we’ll met him again,” Harry said.<br/><br/>“I kind of hope so,” I said, watching the TV.<br/><br/>The world was changing, the cavalcade of news on the small hospital TV was proof enough of that. Magic, for better or for worse, was publicly known now. Things had been moving at an incredible pace while Harry and I had been in the hospital for our wounds, wounds which couldn’t be cured by Panacea because she was busy freaking out about the fact that her sister had actually lost her powers.<br/><br/>“So… what now?” I asked, looking at my teacher, who looked just as lost as I was.<br/><br/>“I guess… I guess I’ll need to find a new job,” he stated. “Maybe pick up the private eye gig again? I did that for a few months you know?”<br/><br/>“Private eye? Really?” I asked. “Selling your powers for money?”<br/><br/>“More like asking money from those who can spare it,” he replied. “Don’t know what to do for the name though… PRT still owns the Myrddin persona.”<br/><br/>“Just go with Merlin?” I asked.<br/><br/>“Wouldn’t work, not without having the excuse of going undercover,” he said. “Hmmm, maybe something with a proper pun in there?”<br/><br/>“Also… I’ve been thinking…” I said. “I’m… not as capable as I thought I was, and I don’t want to be doing anything stupid so… could I move in with you? Maybe help out with the detective gig?”<br/><br/>“Move in… not in my current place, not really any room,” Harry said. “As for the job, you’re sixteen, I’m not sure what the rules for underage private eyes are.”<br/><br/>“What about the rules for capes?” I asked. “No-one needs to know Skitter’s still a kid.”<br/><br/>“Fair point grasshopper,” he replied. “Which gives me an idea, something with a bit of a mix…”<br/><br/>“So? What’s the plan?” I asked.<br/><br/>He smiled that stupid little grin of his again, the one that told me I wouldn’t like what came next.<br/><br/>“We’ll get you a new outfit, make something better for Lisa, and call ourselves Harry’s angels!”<br/><br/>I didn’t even say a word, I just glared.<br/><br/>“Dresden, Skitter and Tats, paranormal investigations?”<br/><br/>“That’s better.”<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>An ancient being sat in an ancient throne, surrounded by ancient subjects, served by an ancient priesthood. They squabbled among each other, awaiting a moment of weakness, a moment they could take from others what they didn’t have themselves.<br/><br/>They couldn’t see the woman, the one in the suit, standing in a corner where no-one but he could see her. She looked good, her neck exposed, the veins standing out, throbbing just so. But he couldn’t attack, couldn’t lose himself. Not here, not now. The court would pounce on the weakness, and it would all be over.<br/><br/>That was the woman’s plan, that had always been the woman’s plan, even that first time, when she’d been a small child.<br/><br/>She moved her lips without sound, knowing that he would be able to read it.<br/><br/>“We had a deal,” the lips spoke. “You would keep your lands stable, you would keep your presence hidden, and we would not interfere.”<br/><br/>He pressed his lips together, trying to think of anything but her flesh, of the way she was biting her lips, a single drop of blood popping out.<br/><br/>He could kill this woman, he could tear her apart in the blink of an eye and feast to his heart’s content, and in doing so, he would lose everything he had.<br/><br/>“There has been a change of plans,” the woman whispered with her lips. He knew who she was, the things in which she dealt. Parahuman abilities, that damnable scourge upon the world that should be his.<br/><br/>“We no longer require stability, not with the numbers the way they are right now. Things have shifted. The Protectorate is changing, becoming more warlike, more organised. Something we could use, if they had a proper bone to sharpen their new teeth.”<br/><br/>He looked at her, then back at the surrounding Lords of Outer Night. They still hadn’t noticed her, but they’d noticed him, his change in demeanor. Was he just a pawn in this woman’s game? His court a throwaway toy they thought to manipulate?<br/><br/>“Sadly,” the woman’s lips moved, “your leadership is too pathetic for that to happen.”<br/><br/>The Red King roared, unleashing his power to the fullest on the woman, rushing forwards instantly to slaughter her and feast on blood and flesh and her succulently sweet smell.<br/><br/>His claws hit nothing but air, and the eyes of the court were upon him.<br/><br/>***Of Monsters and Masquerades***<br/><br/>A young woman, a girl really, sat in her room, moping as she stared at the orphanage TV. All her life, she’d wanted nothing more than to figure out a way to get away from her parents, and now that she had it, she goddamn missed them. Almost all of them.<br/><br/>War, that meant dead people, which meant more orphans, more of a burden on a nation’s already heavily strained foster system. Not that she was looking for a way out, for some total strangers to call mom and dad, but more people meant less food, more assholes, more dealing.<br/><br/>Once again, the screen shifted to the ruins of the Chicago mansion, the subtitles telling her what she couldn’t hear through the noise. The vampire party, Eidolon, Myrddin and Revel, some Canadian called Hijack, and… Skitter?<br/><br/>She stood up, looking around the room, trying to figure out a way to leave without getting drafted into chores as she snuck towards the stairs.<br/><br/>“Where are you going Aisha? Planning to get into trouble again?” one of the caretakers asked.<br/><br/>“No,” she replied. “Just gonna chat with an old friend.”</p>
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